1%. .1 .'/6. NA ><<^ ^^ 'C&t M^ttAoQk^i ^ %: PRINCETON, N. J. *4 '^« Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. * 5\/ Division L.6..^Jj ,A5 S«7-4 Section THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS EDITORIAL SECRETARY HFC 1 li^ WILLIAM E. STRONG ^^H<^M^ ^^.. THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS BOSTON Copyright, 1910 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Published September, 1910 \, THE • PLIMPTOH • PRESS [•5V .D .O] HOaWOOD • MASS • V • 3 . A PREFACE This book does not pretend to be a history of the American Board; that would require more than one volume. Neither is it a history of the Board's missions; that would necessitate even a larger amount of detail. Nor yet is it a record of the 2500 missionaries who have been sent forth by the Board since its organization; that would call for far more of biography. All that is attempted here is to tell the story of the American Board: how it came to pass; what it set out to do; and, in such' degree as space will allow and as can be put into words, what it has done. The aim has been to portray the Board as an organism living and growing in the world; to mark the stages of that growth, to reflect the temper and movement of that life, and to describe briefly and yet vividly some characteristic scenes enacted on the many fields of the Board's enterprise. Even within these bounds it has been a difficult task to keep the story down. Only the more striking or instructive events could be at all dwelt upon. The labor of many stead- fast years and the careers of noble and influential missionaries have often been compressed into a sentence or omitted alto- gether as like what had been already related of other lands or of other lives. Having always in mind the reader with but general and remote knowledge o" the mission field, it seemed best to fix attention on selected scenes, typical, significant, or inspiring; to attempt a more comprehensive and balanced account might rather distract and confuse. Towers do not make a city; but they mark it. There is much between them, and much that is fundamental to the vi PREFACE city's life and welfare. Yet these towers, by their number, location, character, and increase, do impress the observer with the marvelous growth. So the outstanding events and person- ages around which this narrative is gathered represent some- what the mass and moment of the whole undertaking; they may be felt to include those activities and actors whose influence, no less important if less conspicuous, miderlies and connects the epochal scenes. The purpose of the book being to show the growth of the Board, it was desirable that the story of one mission should not get unduly ahead of another. To that end the century is divided into three parts, each covering approximately a gen- eration, and in each period the ground is traversed afresh to show the progress on all the fields during that portion of their history. The fixing of these periods and their designation is at best artificial and approximate. In them all there has been Planting, Watering, and Increase. Yet the order and develop- ment which these divisions indicate have characterized this century of mission work, and the dates set as boundaries, though not equally exact for all fields, do in genera! mark certain turning-points of the history that are significant. Limitations of space prevented the assigning of a chapter to each mission. Of necessity they are combined into fields, usually by countries, a chapter being given to each field. Dur- ing the first two periods the account of each mission is kept distinct within the chapter, the narrative moving back and forth so as to hold the field together in chronological view. The danger of confusion through these swdft transitions is believed to be offset by the advantage of a more comprehensive and simultaneous view of the gi'owth of Christianity in an em- pire. The device of cut-in headings and a notably full index 'svill enable the reader to find and follow any desired line of inquiry. In some cases, notably in Chapter V, in the first period, where the transitions are most numerous and frequent, cross references are inserted to facilitate the forming o." a con- PREFACE vii nected story. In the treatment of the third period less regard is paid to the precise order of events or to mission boundaries, and a freer handUng of the material is ventured, that the broad aspects of modern missionary undertakings may be displayed more amply or connectedly. The spelling of names of places in mission lands is ever a perplexing question. In many of these countries there is no fixed usage. Missionaries in the same field adopt different standards. On the whole it was determined in this volume to use the forms that have been common and familiar among the Board's constituency in the last generation. This rule has been observed also for the most part in the making of the maps, where the present usage of the map makers has been modi- fied in the case of the Board's location , convenience thus being secured at the expense of consistency. In the maps of China the new Imperial Post Office spellings have been accepted throughout, as they now become the authoritative forms to be used in correspondence; the familiar names have been kept in the text as registering the Board's custom at least in the century closed. The corresponding ofiicial spellings in Ceylon, which radically altered the traditional usage of the Board, having been adopted by it several years ago, are indi- cated in the text of the third period as well as on the map of Ceylon. The material available for a historian of the American Board is in most lines abundant, detailed, and reliable. There is far more of it than one who reads and writes amid other tasks can hope to master. The huge volumes of communications, official and personal, between the Rooms and the Missions are in themselves an unbroken history of the Board's affairs from the beginning; he files of the Missionary Herald, the annual reports, many manuscript notes, reminiscences, and biographies in which missionaries long on the field have contributed to the Board's library their personal accounts of what they have observed, all are storehouses of information. Much viii PREFACE of this material, in its earlier parts, has been carefully worked over by several competent hands; by Dr. Joseph Tracy in the History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, sl painstaking and accurate record of the first thirty years of the Board's life; by Secretary Rufus Anderson in his authoritative histories of separate mission fields during the first sixty years, the History of the India Missions, the Sand- wich Islands Mission, and the Missions to the Oriental Churches; and by Dr. Samuel C. Bartlett in his Sketches of the Missions of the American Board, a little book packed with informa- tion as to the Board's operations during the same sixty years, and so full of life and color that it should never drop out of sight Of late, in connection with the jubilee years of several missions, and in some cases with their diamond anniversaries, monographs have been prepared of peculiar historical interest and value. Dr. Edward Warren Capen's extended researches in the Board's archives and among the records of the Prudential Committee have made available also valuable notes concerning the proceedings of the Board and of its representatives at home and abroad. In that large literature of missions so rapidly becoming a recognized department in the world of books, the fields and the forces of the American Board are well represented. To the Lives of many of her famous missionaries, and to their own pubUshed accounts of the particular fields they have served, of which William Goodell's Forty Years in the Turkish Empire, Cyrus Hamhn's My Life and Times, and Josiah Tyler's Forty Years among the Zidus are well-known examples, have come of late important general treatises like Dr. John P. Jones' India: Its Life and Thought and Dr. Otis Cary's History of Christianity in Japan, which, put with such fruits of personal observations as Dr. George Washburn has garnered in his Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College, or the late Dr. Henry H. Jessup in his Fifty-three Years in Syria, and such authoritative works as Dr. Julius Richter's History PREFACE ix of Protestant Missions in the Near East and History of Missioiis in India, indicate the contributory sources of knowledge and of just understanding which are at the disposal of the student of the Board's first century. To these and many othef publi- cations, from voluminous works to fugitive pamphlets, the author has been continually indebted both for information and suggestion. If space has not permitted the acknowledg- ment of this obligation by foot-notes on every page, their absence must not be interpreted as implying that there is no occasion for them. In addition to the benefit of a full and trusty literature of his subject, the author gratefully recognizes the aid of many com- petent and interested friends in the Board's circle. He would make special mention of the help thus derived from his col- leagues in the Board Rooms, from the Prudential Committee's Sub-Committee on Publications, and from several veteran mis- sionaries of the Board, home on furlough or now retired, who were able to give exact and authoritative counsel and criticism as to the treatment of particular fields or periods. No one can be more sensible than the author of the bare- ness and incompleteness of this account of the Board's first century. It was begun with a lively sense of the absolute necessity of compression. Yet more than a third of what was first written has been cut out to bring the book within the extreme limit of size. If to many readers, especially on the mission fields, it seems a meager and fragmentary story, it is hoped that to all who take it up it may nevertheless suggest something of the scope and movement, the character and power of a truly heroic enterprise to which for a hundred years some of the best and bravest men and women of America have given their lives. Of that City of God which they have labored to estabhsh upon earth may his book aid in numbering the towers — to tell it to the generation following. „ Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 26 August, 1910. CONTENTS THE PLANTING, 1810-1850 CHAPTER PAGE I How THE Board Began 3 II Starting in India and Ceylon 17 III Following Indian Trails 35 IV Transforming the Sandwich Islands 56 V Reentering Bible Lands 80 VI Edging into China 108 VII Attempting Aj^rica 124 VIII The Period of Adolescence 140 THE WATERING, 1850-1880 IX In British India and Ceylon 165 X In the Land op the.Dakotas 186 XI In Turkey and the Levant ........ 196 XII In Micronesia 227 XIII In the Empire of China 250 XIV In the Empire of Japan 263 XV In the Dark Continent 279 XVI In Nominally Christian Lands 290 XVII Approaching Maturity 305 THE INCREASE, 1880-1910 XVIII A Period of Expansion _ . . 325 XIX Into New Fields 336 XX The Farther East 352 XXI The Nearer East 385 XXII Southern Asia 413 XXIII Central and Southern Africa 426 XXIV Islands of the Pacific 440 XXV In Papal Lands 456 XXVI A New Era 475 Appendix 495 xi ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE THE SALEM TABERNACLE AND FOUR OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES 14 Samuel Newell, Harriet Atwood Newell, Adoniram JuDSON, Jr., Ann Haseltine Judson. THE STATION AT BRAINERD, TENNESSEE 36 THEN AND NOW IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS ... 57 Central Union Church, Honolulu, and Typical Idols. REPRESENTATIVE MISSIONARIES (Earlier) 107 MmoN WiNSLOw, Elias Riggs, William Goodell, Fidelia FisKE, Aldin Grout, Justin Perkins, Peter Parker. THE "ROOMS" IN 1860 AND 1910 153 The Board's Building in Pemberton Square The General Office in the Congregational House. SOME FOUNDERS AND EARLY OFFICERS 160 Samuel Worcester, Jeremiah Evarts, John Treadwell, Henry Hill, Samuel Spring. SOME OF THE AMERICAN BOARD SHIPS 236 Hiram Bingham II, Morning Stars I, II, IV and V, Missionary Packet. REPRESENTATIVE NATIVE LEADERS 272 K. M. Dhalwami, Joseph Hardy Neesima, B. Prochazka, Pastor Chi a, Sarkis Levonian, James Dube. LATER OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ... 306 RuFus Anderson, Nathaniel G. Clark, Selah B. Treat, Langdon S. Ward, Mark Hopkins, Edmund K. Alden, Richard S. Storrs, John O. Means, Judson Smith, Sarah L. BOWKER. REPRESENTATIVE MISSIONARIES (Later) 321 Titus Coan, Cyrus Hamlin, Stephen R. Riggs, Eliza Agnew, Samuel B. Fairbank, John L. Stephens, Marquis L. Gordon. xiii xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE EDUCATIONAL UNDERTAKINGS IN CHINA AND JAPAN 327 A Gymnastic Class, Peking; Along the Doshisha Campus; Union College of Arts, Tung-chou; At the College Door, TuNG-CHOu; In the Laboratory, Foochow College; A Kyoto Kindergarten; Union Medical College, Peking; A Vista at Kobe College. SOME LINES OF EVANGELISM 329 Street Preaching, Madura, India; A Bible Reader of Trebizond, Turkey; A Woman's Meeting in West Africa; Tent Meeting, Bombay, India; Bookstore and Street Chapel, Peking, China; A Service for Patients at Ceylon Hospital. TWO BOXER MEMORIALS 381 Church and Martyr Cemetery, Pao-ting-fu; Memorial Arch, Oberlin. GLIMPSES OF MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN TURKEY 406 Hospital at Aintab; In the Babies' Ward, Aintab; Dispensary Patients at Talas; Hospital ant) Out-patients, SiVAs; In the Operating Room, Harpoot; Native Nurses AT Marsovan. MADURA'S DIAMOND JUBILEE 424 The March of the Banners of the Years, The New College Building, A Section of the Anniversary Company. INDUSTRIAL FEATURES IN VARIOUS MISSIONS ... 435 Carpenter Shop, Amanzimtoti, South Africa; Carpenter Shop, Marsovan, Turkey; Sir D. M. Petit School of Indus- trial Arts, Ahmednagar, India; Uncovering the Kiln, Mt. Silinda, South Africa; The Laundry, Bombay, India. DIAGRAM SHOWING COMPARATIVE INCREASE IN MISSIONARIES AND NATIVE WORKERS SINCE 1825 475 PLAN OF A REPRESENTATIVE MISSION STATION . . 479 Ahmednagar Station of the Marathi Mission, India. MAPS PAGE The World in 1810 Froniispiece The Board's Missions, 1810-1860 165 The Board's Missions in 1910 325 West Central African Mission 336 Japan Mission 352 South China and Foochow Missions 368 North China and Shansi Missions 380 Asiatic Turkey Eastern, Central, and Western Turkey Missions . . 386 European Turkey ]Mission 400 Marathi Mission, India 414 Madura and Ceylon Missions 420 South African Mission 427 Micronesian Mission 441 Mission to the Philippines 454 Mission to Spain and Mission to Austria 456 Mission to Mexico 468 XV THE PLANTING, 1810-1850 THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Chapter I HOW THE BOARD BEGAN Massachusetts roads were not boulevards in 1810. And there were then no automobiles to cover the six miles between The Con- Andover and Bradford in twice as many minutes. ference at But the two occupants of a chaise which jogged Andover Qver that country highway on the morning of June 27 had little thought of the road or the rate of travel. They were not due in Bradford till nine o'clock, and it was still early. Oblivious to the dust circling about them, or the charm of wayside flowers and the fresh green of pastures and hills, they spent the hours of that drive in earnest consultation. The two men were Rev. Samuel Worcester, pastor of the Tabernacle Church, of Salem, and Dr. Samuel Spring, minister at Newburyport. They had come to Andover from Salem the day before to attend a conference at the house of Prof. Moses Stuart. The professors of Andover Theological Sem- inary, four or five neighboring pastors, and Mr. Jeremiah Evarts, a layman already recognized as a wise and influential counselor, comprised the company. A band of four Seminary students had set their hearts upon undertaking a Christian mission in some foreign land and desired to offer a memorial on the subject to the General Association of Massachusetts Proper, a recently organized body of conservative Congre- gational ministers, representing the more evangelical wing of the denomination, which was to hold its annual meeting in Bradford the next day. The conference in Professor Stuart's house was ''solemn, intellectual, and devotional." Samuel Newell spoke for the 3 4 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD students. The project was then discussed. All honored the motive and devotion of the young men, but there were mis- givings; to one adviser, at least, they seemed infatuated. The calm but approving arguments of Messrs. Worcester, Evarts, and Stuart, the passionate appeal of Dr. Griffin, and the warn- ing of one of the conferees, that they had better not try to stop God, at length prevailed; the judgment of the conference on the whole favored the proposal. It was of this new and stupendous undertaking that Dr. Worcester and Dr. Spring talked as they drove; of what it involved for those who should go to the field, and for those at home who should support them; of the growing missionary interest among American Christians, of the prospects of a foreign missionary society, and of the best way to form it. By the time they reached Bradford the plan of the forth- coming society was framed in their minds. Even a name for it was provided — undoubtedly the suggestion of Mr. Worces- ter— ''Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions," to which cumbrous but weighty title the organization itself, at its first meeting, was to prefix the word "American." It was on the second day of the Association's meeting at Bradford, and apparently in the church to which adjournment The was taken from the small Academy building where Bradford the first session was held, that the four young men Meeting from Andover Seminary were introduced and pre- sented the following paper, prepared by Mr. Judson: "The undersigned, members of the Divinity College, respect- fully request the attention of their reverend fathers, convened in the General Association at Bradford, to the following state- ment and inquiries. "They beg leave to state that their minds have long been impressed with the duty and importance of personally attempt- ing a mission to the heathen; that the impressions on their minds have induced a serious, and, they trust, a prayerful consideration of the subject in its various attitudes, parti cu- HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 5 larly in relation to the probable success, and the difficulties attending such an attempt; and that, after examining all the information which they can obtain, they consider themselves as devoted to this work for life, whenever God, in his provi- dence, shall open the way. ''They now offer the following inquiries, on which they solicit the opinion and advice of this Association. Whether, with their present views and feelings, they ought to renounce the object of missions, as either visionary or impracticable; if not, whether they ought to direct their attention to the eastern or western world; whether they may expect patronage and support from a missionary society in this country or must commit themselves to the direction of a European society; and what preparatory measures they ought to take previous to actual engagement. ''The undersigned, feeling their youth and inexperience, look up to their fathers in the church, and respectfully solicit their advice, direction, and prayers. '^Adoniram Judson, Jr. ''Samuel Nott, Jr. ''Samuel J. Mills, "Samuel Newell." That there were only four names signed to this memorial rather than six was due to the fact that two other students were held back lest there should be alarm over the numbers. Inasmuch as the Association was but eight years old and had present at that meeting but nineteen appointed delegates, no business of special importance being generally anticipated, it was not strange that caution was felt to be necessary. The formal statement was quietly received and, after some more particular and individual testimonies from the young men, was referred to a committee of three, consisting of Messrs. Spring, Worcester, and Hale, the last named being secretary of the Association. Evidently it was meant that the appeal 6 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD should pass into kindly hands. When the committee reported the following day, Friday, the 29th, approving the purpose of the young men and recommending the organization of a foreign missionary board upon a plan submitted, the report was at once and unanimously adopted. The plan provided that the Board should consist of nine members, and that while the Association should in the first instance choose all, the Association of Connecticut should be invited thereafter to cooperate by choosing four of the nine. Later, upon th6 secur- ing of a charter, the right of electing members was transferred to the Board itself. The Association then elected the follow- ing nine men to membership in the Board, leaving to them the working out of details of organization: His Excellency John Treadwell, Esq., Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, Gen. Jede- diah Huntington, and Rev. Calvin Chapin, of Connecticut; Rev. Dr. Joseph Lyman, Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, William Bartlet, Esq., Rev. Samuel Worcester, and Dea. Samuel H. Walley, of Massachusetts. Although the action that originated the American Board was thus short and simple, it is not to be inferred that it was taken with full assurance and unqualified enthusiasm. The whole procedure forms a striking example of the power of a few strong and determined men to lead others. The advo- cacy of the project by those who came from Andover, notably by Jeremiah Evarts, carried the day. One who was present at the meeting noted this characteristic: '^Perhaps never was the value of an intelligent leading influence more clearly shown; perhaps never was such an influence more needed or more gladly acknowledged. One thing was prominent and uni- versal, viz., a deep sense of the sublime position and devout consecration of this missionary band. They were unpre- tending, modest, of a tender, childlike spirit, well understand- ing their aim, consecrated, a felt power. The attitude of the meeting was about this: no direct opposition, a weak faith, a genial hope, rather leaning to a waiting posture. It obviously HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 7 was a relief to a portion of the body that the subject was put into the hands of such men as those who composed the Board. I^ the right sense they were marked men, well suited to the emergency. This seemed to lift somewhat the pressure of the responsibility. . The feeling was, Try it; if the project fail, it would have, from such men, an honorable burial." But, in truth, the American Board began long before its organization in 1810. To find its origin one must go back of Bradford and Andover; back to WiUiamstown ^ ^^ ®^ and its haystack and groves, where in 1806 a dozen young college students, led by Samuel J. Mills, were pouring out to one another and to God the sorrow of their hearts over the moral darkness of Asia, and where as they faced the need of sending the gospel to that far land, their faith rose to affirm, ''We can, if we will," which goading word led them in 1808 to form the society of ''The Brethren," whose object was "to effect in the persons of its members a mission or missions to the heathen," and whose five charter members, signing the constitution, thus pledged themselves to this life service. Like the Jesuits in the secrecy of their organ- ization and in the subjection of individual choices to the will of the order, but without guile. The Brethren became a potent force for missions in Williams College, and afterward at Andover Seminary, as with the coming of some of its founders to that institution in 1810 it found there its natural home and seat of influence. At Andover the group from Williams met some like-minded men from other colleges, three of whom were promptly enrolled among The Brethren: Adoniram Judson, Jr., from Brown, Samuel Newell from Harvard, and Samuel Nott, Jr., from Union College. Judson, ardent, ambitious, a born leader, now took the initiative in the society. Mills contentedly slipping into less conspicuous but no less efficient place. With this union of eager hearts and alert and determined minds it was inevitable that The Brethren should infuse somewhat of their 8 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD missionary zeal into all they met; into their Seminary, then in its formative and most impressionable years, and among the ministers and churches of their acquaintance throughout New England. Williamstown led to Andover, and Andover to Bradford. Back of Williamstown and accounting for Mills and the haystack, as for Andover Seminary itself, was the period of religious revival which blessed New England as the eighteenth century turned into the nineteenth. The tides of religious life had reached a low ebb after the Revolutionary War and before the welcome change began. Infidelity was general and ram- pant. Educated men boasted of skepticism. The colleges were noisy with it. The reaction from the ^reat /kwakening and its surge of emotions was complete. Then came quietly a gradual renewal of religious desire. It appeared first in Con- necticut and soon was felt in Mills' home county of Litchfield. At length the fire of it warmed his heart, kept tender by the love of his saintly mother, who had been ever his confidante, and whose word once to a friend, ''I have consecrated this child to the service of God as a missionary," the child had overheard. But it was not till academy Hfe was opening that Mills, then seventeen years of age, after a somewhat stormy experience of religious questioning, came forth into clear and happy discipleship. Almost at once he caught the missionary vision and responded to its appeal. Entering Williams College to fit himself for this service, he brought to it the inspiration of a great soul devoted to a great idea. As the spirit of this revival spread from Connecticut to Massachusetts it divided yet more sharply the so-called ortho- dox and liberal parties of the time. The reaction became stronger against those tendencies of religious thought and temper which, under the name of Unitarianism, were soon to split the Congregational churches into two denominations. Against these tendencies the evangelical party now set itself determinedly and to that end created one after another, in HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 9 quick succession, those agencies and institutions, some of which have been already named, that were most intimately associated with the origin of the Board. And back of this evangelical reawakening and inwrought with it as an originating force in the creating of the American Board were the new missionary enterprises starting in the mother country, reports of which were being eagerly read by many earnest Christians in America, and to which many gifts were going from this land; also the missionary societies already formed in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with domestic missions indeed mainly in view, but not altogether so; and yet farther back, even to the beginning of American his- tory, a succession of broad-visioned and devoted men who from generation to generation had sounded the call for mis- sionary effort or had made some earnest attempts to minister to those to whom the gospel had not come, to the Indians, or the Africans, or other disadvantaged races. It was indeed a rebirth of the purpose which animated the Pilgrim Fathers and which had never been altogether lost by their descendants that produced the American Board. From the glowing heart of a religious revival whose warmth cleared away the fogs of infidelity, revived Christianity, founded Andover Seminary, and built Park Street Church, Boston, came also this first for- eign missionary society of America to fulfil the desire and hope of those men of Plymouth who sought to be stepping-stones for other adventurers in carrying the gospel to the world. The action, at Bradford, which constituted the American Board was hardly exhilarating to the young men eager to find themselves on mission ground. For, while Ardor and • xu • j • ± p . approvmg their purpose and organizmg a society to promote it, the General Association advised them diligently to pursue their studies and humbly to wait the open- ings and guidance of Providence. And when, ten weeks later, September 5, the first meeting of the American Board was held at Farmington, Conn., it recorded a similar vote of approval 10 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD and advice, intimating that any appointment of missionaries must wait upon fuller information concerning fields and a more assured financial outlook. Then, having elected officers and an executive or Prudential Committee, adopted rules of action, and issued a stately appeal to the Christian public, the Board adjourned for a year. The Prudential Committee, likewise, upon surveying the task, was of the opinion that it would be some time before they could secure funds to maintain a mission "upon a prom- ising scale." At this prospect of delay the would-be mission- aries chafed; their sponsors and advisers on the Board's Com- mittee were also unwilling merely to wait for the way to open. Accordingly it was voted to send Mr. Judson to London to confer with the London Missionary Society, partly for informa- tion as to mission fields, but chiefly as to the possibility of some combination between the two societies in maintaining missionary work. Judson had alread}' opened negotiations with the London Society, having written in April preceding as to the desire of himself and his fellow students for foreign missionary service and asking if the Society would be willing to receive them into its training-school at Gosport the next spring, preparatory to work under its auspices. The awakening of foreign missionary zeal in the United States and the forma- tion of the American Board had interrupted that correspond- ence in which the London Missionary Society had cordially engaged. But now that the students were beginning again to despair of going forth with American support, Judson was ready at once to undertake the errand proposed by the Pruden- tial Committee. Leaving Boston early in January, 1811, and after an exciting voyage in which his ship was captured by a French privateer and Judson himself was imprisoned at Bayonne, he reached London just before the May anniversary and there spent six weeks in consultation. Courteously received by the sister society, this representative of the American Board made a HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 11 strong impression. Tall and slight of figure, of a delicate appearance, but with bright countenance and a powerful voice, by his impassioned speech Judson commanded attention. A London clerg>Tnan, introducing him as purposing to be a missionary, added, ''and if his faith is proportioned to his voice he will drive the devil from all India." The inquiries and overtures which Judson had to present to the London Society were naive at least in their form: whether the Lon- don Society, if need be, would support for a time these young men, without requiring full or final authority in directing them; whether a joint support by the two societies were feasible; and if so. which should direct the mission. In its very first measure the Committee justified its title to the name "Prudential." It did not intend to put out of its hand aught of what had been entrusted to it. but sought to avail itself of ever>' possible ally in making the most of its opportunit}'. The London Society natm-ally dechned to enter into a joint administration at such long range and urged the hope that the American churches would respond to the call of this emer- gent need. At the same time the directors promised that, if necessary', they would receive Mr. Judson and his friends as their missionaries, and support them until they were able to maintain thiemselves, the principle of self-sustaining mis- sionaries being then approved ere experience had shown its fallacy. At the second annual meeting of the Board at Worcester, September 18, ISll, the Committee reported concerning Mr. Judson 's visit and its results, and recommended that the Board retain the young men as its own missionaries, in reUance on the di^-ine favor as it should be expressed in generous giving by the Christian pubUc to pro^*ide their support. The fact was that the pride of the Committee and of the Board was a Httle touched at the reply from England, and yet more by the discovery- that their missionary candidates had almost aban- doned hope of being sent oTit from .America and that Judson 12 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD had brought back commissions from London for himself and his associates. The impetuous and strong-willed nature of Judson would not brook longer delay. He and Nott, at least, went to Worcester determined if the Board did not act promptly to accept appointment under the English Society. This atti- tude, though somewhat irritating to the cautious founders of the Board, yet had the desired effect. At that meeting four of the men, Judson, Nott, Newell, and Hall, were appointed missionaries of the Board, and two others, Richards and Warren, were taken under its direction and patronage while they completed their theological studies at Andover and took a course of medical lectures at Dartmouth College. The field to which these men should be assigned was left open to the judgment of the Prudential Committee, though three locations in Asia, the Burman Empire, Surat, and the Prince of Wales Island (Penang) were proposed in the vote. It is surprising not to find the name of Mills, the originator of this student band, and the first of all the young men to devote himself to the foreign missionary life in the list of these appointees. To be sure, he had almost a year of study yet before him in the Seminary, while Gordon Hall was already graduated. Yet there are suggestions of other reasons oper- ating in that hidden council of The Brethren to which each member submitted the decision of his course. Mills himself came to feel that he was not so well fitted for the conduct of work on the field as were some of his comrades; moreover, he had proved himself peculiarly adapted to promote the missionary cause at home in arousing the churches, in devis- ing new agencies and organizations for furthering the gospel, and in tours of exploration opening up new fields to be entered. Through all his Andover days, and to the last hour of his short but crowded life, he was busy serving the ends of that kingdom in whose behalf he helped to originate the American Board. The faith and determination of the Board to undertake its HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 13 appointed task were doubtless stimulated by the report at ju A _ Worcester that $1400 had so far been received pointment from donations for that purpose, and still more of the First by the announcement of a bequest of $30,000 from Mission- ^/[^s. Mary Norris of Salem. Although this noble *"®^ legacy was not actually received for two years, yet it encouraged the little circle of the Board's supporters to feel that money could be secured for this adventurous enterprise. The appointment of its first missionaries committing it to aggressive action, the Board's officers now earnestly set about interesting pastors and friends, while the students at Andover gave themselves to vigorous efforts to secure funds. These efforts were made the more definite and urgent by word received in January, 1812, from Philadelphia, whither Newell and Hall had gone for some medical studies, after their gradu- ation at Andover, that the ship Harmony was to sail for Cal- cutta in about two weeks and would receive missionaries as passengers. The prospect of a new war and the further block- ade of ports made this seem an opportunity not to be lost. What should be done? Money was not in hand sufficient to pay even the passage fees. The committee deliberated anxiously. Could they safely anticipate that the interest roused by the despatch of these first missionaries would hasten and increase gifts? At last, January 27, they voted to send the four men, but to detain the wives for a while, till the treasury should be refilled. Or, if that were not possible, perhaps the London Missionary Society would after all render help. Three days later they added to the list, with some dismay at what they were doing, but because they dared not reject his request, the name of Luther Rice. The Board had already satisfied itself of the qualifications of its four earliest candidates, the Prudential Com- Q ,. . mittee having examined them at a meeting held in Salem on Christmas Day, 1810, just prior to Judson's leaving for his visit to England. But now that the time had 14 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD come to send them forth it was proper they should be ordained to the ministry according to Congregational usage. A small council was called to meet in the Tabernacle Church, Salem, Thursday, February 6. The other churches invited were the North of Newburyport and the Congregational Church of Charlestown, with Dr. Griffin of Park Street Church, Boston, and Professors Wood and Stuart of Andover Seminary, where Dr. Griffin had also been professor, as personally invited mem- bers. The young men were thus decidedly in the hands of their friends. The day of ordination proved fiercely cold, yet the church was crowded. Not only were the representative people of Salem present, but visitors came from far and near. Students from Andover Seminary and Phillips Academy walked to and from Salem in order to attend the service, whose proceedings were followed with almost breathless interest. The spectacle of these talented and trained young men, before whom life opened so promisingly, committing themselves to the hazard of a foreign mission, arrested the attention of all classes in the community. And the eyes of the congregation were not less attracted to the faces of two young women who were present, one Mr. Judson's bride of a day, the other the prom- ised wife of Newell. On that 29th of June, 1810, when the Board was organized in Bradford, the dinner was furnished the young men from Andover in the home of a Bradford citizen, Deacon John Haseltine. Judson was noticeably quiet and absorbed during the meal. Later it transpired that he was composing some verses in honor of the beautiful and lively daughter of the house, Ann Haseltine, who waited upon the guests and who at length consented to become the wife of the prospective missionary. Scarcely had Miss Haseltine con- fided to her friend, Harriet Atwood, living just across the river in Haverhill, her expectation of missionary life in India, than Judson's friend Newell met Miss Atwood, and in the spring of 1811 they, too, became affianced and faced together HARRIET ATWOOD NEWELL n m' y®r'"'/- SAMUEL NEWELL ►^«^ fSfSJ^ICi" rf THE TABERNACLE IN 1812 ANN HASELTINE JUDSON ADONIRAM JUDSON, JR. THE SALEM TABERNACLE AND FOUR OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES HOW THE BOARD BEGAN 15 the prospect of a foreign mission field. As both these young women were of well-reputed famihes, fully educated accord- ing to the standards of the time, and socially prominent in the region, their committal to this new project deepened the excite- ment of that ordination day in the Salem Tabernacle. One of that congregation, William Goodell, himself afterward a distinguished missionary of this Board, but then a mere country boy who had trudged over from Phillips Academy, and who was so exhausted with exploring the novel sights of the sea-faring town and with the exposure of his long walk in the bitter cold that he could hardly hold his eyes open, records the impressiveness of the scene. The crowded church, the eminent ministers participating in the exercises, the group of young men taking their solemn vows, the stirring of imagina- tion over the significance and reach of what was being done, keyed feelings to highest pitch. At times the entire assembly "seemed moved as the trees of the wood are moved by a mighty wind." On that same evening Messrs. Nott, Hall, and Rice left for Philadelphia, supposing that they had just time to catch the Harmony before she sailed. The Judsons and Deoarture ^^^^^^^ remained in Salem awaiting the sailing of the Caravan, a brigantine which, it had transpired some ten days before, was about leaving Salem for Calcutta; whereupon it was thought wiser to divide the company. Delays occurred in the sailing of both vessels, trying to the spirits of the ready and eager missionaries, but bringing relief to the Board's officers, who saw the treasury fast filling. It happened as had been hoped. When it was known, not merely that the Board desired or even proposed to send out missionaries, but that they were embarking, the hearts of many loyal friends were prompted to help and gifts flowed in from all quarters. Within three weeks of the decision to send out the missionaries in faith, more than $6000 was collected. By the time the Caravan sailed it was possible to furnish them not only with 16 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD their full outfits, but with a year's salary in advance, which, considering disturbed conditions and the difficulty in trans- porting money, was indeed fortunate. In similar way, offerings of friends in the neighborhood of Philadelphia fully equipped those who sailed on the Harmony. At length the hopes and prayers of many years were ful- filled; the project, which had been successively a vision, an idea, a desire, a resolve, and a plan, became an accomplished fact. On February 19 the Caravan sailed from Salem, carrying the Judsons and the Newells; the Harmony, with Mr. and Mrs. Nott, and Messrs. Hall and Rice, finally got away from the Delaware Cape on the 24th. The Board was launched upon its far enterprise. Chapter II STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON The Caravan arrived at Calcutta June 17, 1812. The mis- sionaries did not have to wait long for their trials; strangely, the first opposition was not from the people of the „ ° ^. land, but from men of their own race. The East Reception , ^ , » . , . ., India Company, whose tenure of special privilege was then being sharply protested in England, was doing its utmost to keep missionaries out of the country where their observant eyes were dreaded. Sydney Smith's brilhant lam- poons in the Edinburgh Review sought to rout from India the "nest of consecrated cobblers." Thus far the British govern- ment had not refused to maintain the rights of its own citizens already engaged in missionary work in these far-off possessions; for Americans, with whom England was on the brink of war, there was no opening. Ten days after their arrival the governor-general commanded Judson and Newell to return to America on the Caravan. At first there seemed nothing else to do; Burma was closed, appeals to enter other parts of India were unavaihng. When letters came from their brethren on the Harmony at the Isle of France (Mauritius) saying that the governor of that island desired missionaries, the way seemed plain. Here was territory not under the control of the East India Company; might they go there? Permission was granted. The first vessel to sail could take but two passengers; the Newells sailed in her, the Judsons were to follow. When the Harmony reached Calcutta a few days later, its 17 18 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD party met a similar reception. As they were about to be despatched Avith the fleet to England, being consigned to the gunners' mess, they fled under cover of the night. Adopting disguises and running heavy risks, like escaping prisoners, they all managed to get away, the Judsons to Burma and Messrs. Hall and Nott to Bombay. Bombay proved hardly a better landing-place for mission- aries than Calcutta. The first visit of the new arrivals was to the police court. War was now declared between ^^ ! England and the United States. It was charged at Bombay ^ , , . . ,. .... that a vessel brmgmg supplies to the missionaries had really been sent to inform American ships; a pohtical plot was suspected. Repeated orders, which the friendly governor, Sir Evan Nepean, could not delay much longer to execute, called for the sending of the missionaries at once to England. An unsuccessful attempt to join Newell, now in Ceylon, resulted in the return of the fugitives from Cochin under arrest and heavy suspicion. Yet the bearing and argument of these hard-pressed men, who justified their effort to get away by Paul's escape at Damas- cus, favorably impressed the magistrate. Hall's skill in stating his case and his boldness in facing officials recall, in these par- ticulars also, the first apostle to the Gentiles. The mission- aries would sign no bond not to leave Bombay without per- mission, nor give their parole, not even for a day ahead. Rather would they appeal to the governor as a Christian man and a just ruler not to defeat the pious object of their endeavor. On December 22, 1813, nearly six months after their arrival at Bombay, they were told they might remain awaiting further instructions. Not until two years later did they learn that by the efforts of active friends in England, notably of Sir Charles Grant and William Wilberforce, the East India Com- pany had accepted that interpretation of the renewed charter which permitted missionaries to work in the land, under cer- tain conditions. STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 19 The early troubles were not all from without. While still in Calcutta, the Judsons and Mr. Rice announced their change of view as to baptism and offered themselves to eavier ^^ immersed by the Baptist missionaries at Cal- cutta who had welcomed them on their arrival in India. "What the Lord means," wrote Hall and Nott, "by thus dividing us in sentiment and separating us from each other, we cannot tell." Yet from this apparent disaster came another American society, the Baptist Missionary Union, another chain of missions for the Christian conquest of India, and, in particular, the opening of work in Burma, the very object for which that first company started to the East and from which the others had been turned aside. A still heavier sorrow was soon to be borne. The Newells' voyage to Mauritius was long and full of peril and hardship. The new-born babe died at sea; the mother soon after arrival at Port Louis. The pathos of this story, the figure of the stricken man left to his lonely battle with heathenism, most of all perhaps the exquisite character and lofty faith of Harriet Newell, as revealed in the record of her short life, proved a mighty incentive to the new missionary enterprise. It inspired her associates with fresh devotion to their task from which she had been taken, and it thrilled America. Here, also, what seemed a crushing loss became an abiding gain. Long before official permission was given, the intrepid men at Bombay had gone quietly about their task. Even to their faith it could hardly have seemed other than a -. ® - colossal venture. At last they were face to face with the heathenism that had oppressed their imaginations at home. The island city to which they were shut in was one of its strongholds. And when thej^ looked across the narrow straits they saw there a land as yet almost untouched by western civilization. A score or more miles back from the coast were the high ranges of the Western Ghats, running north and south; between them and the sea was the fertile region 20 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD called the Konkan; east of the mountains stretched the broad and drier tableland of the Deccan. In this territory, extending three hundred miles along the coast and some four hundred and fifty miles inland, with a population of about 11,000,000, far more than the United States could then boast, dwelt the Marathi people, one of the strongest races of India, yet in those days such notorious marauders that the government was compelled to interfere and, in the war of 1817, to force an abso- lute surrender. Among such a people, a mixture of Moham- medans, fire-worshiping Parsees, and idolatrous Hindus, the last altogether the most numerous, came these two men, with- out knowledge of language or of land, with no experience of missionary labor, the messengers of a society which had yet no standing or sure support, to attempt the establishment of the kindgom of God. To be sure, they were not the first missionaries to the penin- sula of India. The legend that the apostle Thomas planted Christianity in this land is doubtless to be discarded, but there is clear history of missionary work by the Syrian Christians in early times and by the Roman Catholics in later centuries. In the modern era both Anglo-Saxon and Continental societies found their first fields in India; the Danish mission located at Tranquebar, and Carey and his company at Calcutta and Serampore. But for the work of evangelizing the Marathi people not one step had yet been taken when the nineteenth century opened; the representatives of the American Board were the pioneers in a great wilderness, without map or path or guide. Their first task was to learn the language, for which they had neither dictionary nor grammar; but in whose study the English wife whom Mr. Hall had married in 1813, Getting ^^ ^^^ ^^g familiar with the Hindustani speech Started , , ^ , . . tix and character, was of great assistance. Moreover, it was the habit of the missionaries to take their daily walk where they might meet the people, by the temples, bazaars, STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 21 or burning ghats, pausing like their Master of old wherever a group would gather around to listen. Thus they soon began to make acquaintance, and to learn the hfe and habit of the people. Their journals and letters home described with vivid detail scenes that woke both horror and pity : the debas- ing idolatry, the shameless vice, the ignorance and supersti- tion of the lower classes, the pride of the Brahmans, the woe of a weary land. At once they were face to face with what was to prove their bitterest foe, the most stubborn obstacle that modern missions The have had to meet, India's distinctive social custom, Obstacle caste. Of ancient origin, an organized system five of Caste centuries before the Christian era, this principle of dividing the people of the land into separate groups was now fundamental to Indian society. Its law was absolute, rigorous, and unflinching, forbidding all marriage, breaking of bread, physical contact, or even pursuit of an occupation outside the boundaries of the individual's caste. Punishing all violations of its rules by the severest penalties, such as boycott and social ostracism, this tyrannous system had become the curse of India, destroying both national spirit and individual ambition, promoting pride and strife, crushing out human sympathies, binding life in its every action, and blocking every door of progress. The missionaries, seeing the misery of it, from the first made abandonment of caste a test of Christian discipleship. They have ever done their utmost to stamp it out of the Chris- tian Church and community; but it remains a persistent and wily foe. As soon as a little knowledge of the language had been gained, parts of the New Testament were translated, and The Press with a press from Calcutta and a printer gained by and the the transfer of a new missionary from Ceylon, por- School tions of the Scriptures were printed and scattered wherever opportunity was found. At the same time free day schools using the vernacular were 22 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD started, which at first were of necessity taught by Brahmans. For this reason parents were less afraid to send their children to the mission schools, while the missionaries took care to inject a plentiful amount of Christian teaching into the day's routine. So rapidly did these schools multiply that fond hopes were awakened in America that Hinduism was fast being undermined. Within three or four years twenty-five such schools were in operation, with some 1,200 pupils, at a cost of only $11 a month for 100 boys.^ While a beginning was thus made in Bombay the American Board was opening a second mission in Ceylon. The start Beginning there was for many reasons easier than in West in Ceylon, India. Newell, who had stopped at Ceylon on his i8i6 ^ay from Mauritius to join Hall, had learned that the governor desired missionaries and that the people seemed not unfriendly to Christianity. The war with England now being over, the Board therefore followed what seemed a provi- dential leading in designating its new appointees, who had been waiting for an open door, to this island so closely associated with India. Five missionaries, whose names were to become historic, Messrs. Warren, Richards, Meigs, Bardwell, and Poor, all married men except Mr. Warren, arrived in March, 1816, and chose Jaffna as their first location. This comparatively small island, or rather peninsula of Jaffna, connected with the main island by a sand-bank forty miles wide, was occupied by a Tamil-speaking population of 350,000, whose ancestors had come over from South India, and were unlike in race, speech, and religion to most of the Ceylonese. Here the missionaries were able to enter into a work that had been begun by the Portuguese, passed over to the Dutch, and now, with the transfer of the island to the English in 1802, was open to new laborers. To the glebes and buildings thus abandoned by the Dutch the American missionaries succeeded. Large buildings of coral stone, amply * The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 24. STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 23 sufficient both for public worship and for schools, residences for the missionaries, and gardens with fruit-trees, were at once at the disposal of this mission. Moreover, as a good transla- tion of the Scriptures in the Tamil language had been in exist- ence for years, there was less need of a printing press than at Bombay, whither Mr. Bardwell was accordingly despatched. Beyond these outward aids the Americans inherited httle from the previous workers. The Dutch had made Christianity compulsory, driving the people to church ; the English on taking possession abandoned all religious effort. The so-called con- verts apostatized and the American missionaries found Chris- tianity disgraced in the eyes of the natives. The religion of this people, like that of the Tamils on the mainland, was a composite of the Hinduism and the devil-worship of the Dra- vidian progenitors who had migrated into southern India. The result was a gross and multitudinous idolatry. Temples abounded with their demoralizing ritual. Religious festivals were seasons of puerile and corrupting practises, beginning with bathing and dressing the idols, and ending with a rough brawl over the distribution of cocoanuts for the feast. Here, as in Bombay, the schools were the most effective agency for getting hold of the people. Parents were quite ready to put their children under the care of mis- Sd^ool? sionaries, provided they would support them. A boarding-school was soon started, in which boys were taken out of their old associations and subjected to a rigorous mental and spiritual discipline. For a time it was the peculiar habit in this mission to assign to these boys the names of the patrons in America who furnished their support. With the work of teaching went that of preaching. The year after their arrival both Mr. Poor and Mr. Meigs were preaching in the native tongue, surpassing in this respect the record of Hall and Newell in Bombay, who began to preach before the close of their second year. In 1820 reenforcements came, including Levi Spaulding and Miron Winslow, whose 24 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD long careers in Ceylon were to be among the formative influ- ences of the mission there. The coming of these men was opportune for this among other reasons, that the new English governor of the island absolutely forbade any further increase of the mission, ordering back the next to arrive, and telling the missionaries frankly that he thought the English were able to take care of their own island and its natives; that America had enough to do for the Indians of that country; the mission- aries of the Enghsh Church could be relied on to provide all the missionary work that Ceylon needed.^ Having at length authorized the presence of missionaries in India, the British government gave them full protection, Advance ^^^ ^s reenforcements came to the mission it was in Bombay possible to reach points outside of Bombay. By (See p. 22) preaching tours along the coast the field was now extended and some schools were started. Yet it was slow work and disappointing in many ways. After five years there were no converts, and when the first appeared he was a Mohammedan from Hyderabad, who while on a visit to Bombay read a Chris- tian tract, was won by it, attached himself to the missionaries, and afterward made several evangelistic tours on the mainland. The first chapel for public worship in Bombay was erected in 1822. After his experiences in attempting to preach out of doors and in private houses, it was with great joy that Hall could gather a congregation in a place appointed for the pur- pose. The building was small and unpretentious, with the earth for a floor; its upper story was used for a chapel, while the lower was devoted to the press, the verandas being used for a school. Yet it was not without honor as the first of the many houses of worship which the American Board was to erect. At the end of ten years' labor there was not much to report in figures, yet the missionaries rejoiced to feel that some real and wide impression had been made in this hard field, especially through the schools and the printed page. At least, the tools * The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 26. STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 25 and the workshop were ready, and there was good-will among the workers. The comradeship which from the first had been evidenced by the missionaries of various societies in Bombay appeared in the formation in 1825 of the Bombay Missionary Union, in which the representatives of the American Board joined those of English and Scottish societies. From the outset the American missionaries were eager to touch the mainland, but the government was fearful that this Advance step would bring disorder. Schools, however, were on the begun and steadily increased on the continent as Mainland ^^ell as on the island. In some of these schools Jewish teachers were employed rather than Brahman, and so some Jewish scholars were attracted, until distinctive schools for this race were established both for boys and girls. This first work for girls and women in India called forth the appre- ciation of the governor of Bombay and other English friends. Long before stations could be attempted outside of Bombay the missionaries were touring far inland, prospecting the field that should yet open. In this journeying Hall was the leader. Going alone but for his native attendants, he ventured far, getting close to the people, studying their life, conversing with whomever he might meet, a watchful visitor at rehgious fes- tivals, marriage celebrations, the exorcising of the sick, the ritual of the temples. So the abominations of popular Hin- duism, the fetishism and fakirism, the sensuality, cruelty, and groveling idolatry, were burned into his soul. He learned of the Sati, the immolation of the widow, of the hook swinging and the temple car, and of other inhuman practises, now largely abolished, but then tolerated in the land. It was as he turned his face homeward from one of these tours, after encountering an outbreak of cholera and dispensing to the people of the village all the medicines he had, that Hall found himself stricken with the dread disease. As he fell to the ground by the temple on whose veranda he had spent the night, helpless and knowing well that he could not recover, he gave directions to his attend- 26 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ants, exhorted them to forsake their idols, prayed fervently for his wife and children, his missionary brethren and the multitudes around him, and quietly gave up his spirit to God. Thus passed from earth that superb missionary, Gordon Hall, pioneer in the first mission of the Board, who gave tone and power to all its undertaking, not alone in India, but on every field. Hall's untimely death was one of many. In quick succession during these years of beginnings the missionaries fell at their posts or were compelled to withdraw, broken down j^^^ by the strain. Reenforcements did not keep pace with the deaths; in 1826 the mission at Bombay was reduced again to two members, and after that there were seldom more than two in the city at any one time who could converse with the people. During the first twenty years of work among the Marathi people more missionaries died than natives were baptized. The average missionary life was about five years and three months, or, counting active service after the language had been learned, not more than three and a quarter years. The record for this whole period in the four missions which were in operation by 1850 is well-nigh unbeliev- able. On the highlands of Ahmednagar as well as at Bombay the missionaries were continually failing in health, or through ignorance of preventive measures falling victims to the ever- prevalent cholera. In Ceylon the death-rate was even greater. Often the reenforcements could not come fast enough to fill the places of those who fell by the way. The laying of founda- tions was ever costly.^ While the little company at Bombay were trying to pene- trate their broad territory, in the more compact and freer Educa- ^^^^ ^^ Jaffna the missionaries had developed five tional stations. Here, too, the school was at first the Work in most serviceable agency, and until a generation of Ceylon Christian teachers could be trained Brahman mas- (See p. 24) ^^^^ ^^^.^ employed. The village schools were held 1 The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 29. STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 27 in open bungalows, the boys seated on mats around the sides of the room, marking in the sand or conning their lessons, written on palm leaves, all studying aloud and learning by rote with little concern for the sense. Gradually native books were supplanted by Christian publications. Once a week the missionaries examined the scholars and conferred with the teachers, to counterbalance somewhat the baleful influence of pagan instructors. Boarding-schools for boys and girls, which in the early days served as normal schools, increased in number, until in 1823 there was one at almost every station. It was not difficult to secure students. Boys were plentiful, and if at first parents were unwilling to let their daughters learn to read, by 1824 there were nearly 250 girls in the schools. The regimen of these boarding-schools was stiff, the day's routine beginning at six in the morning, when the bell rang for A Board- prayers. The Sabbaths were scarcely less strenuous ing-School than the week days, with attendance on various Day in services, the reciting of Scripture and catechism Jafifna memorized during the week, occasional meetings of inquiry and assembHes where the pupils listened to "remarks calculated to make serious impressions," besides regular relig- ious meetings among themselves. The indefatigable mission- aries were gratified by the results of this training. But in view of the natural indolence of the people, the show and stir of religion in their temples, and the easy-going character of previous mission work in Jaffna, it is not strange that the Americans did not at once win all the people to the new faith. So successful were the Ceylon schools and so urgent the need of trained native teachers that at length a seminary was Higher established at Batticotta, some English residents Education, being among its first benefactors, like Sir Richard 1826 Ottley, whose name is commemorated by its principal building, Ottley Hall. The missionaries were the first teachers, though it was expected that the school would 28 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD gradually develop its own instructors. That it met a want appears in the fact that two years after its establishment there were not less than 200 applicants for admission when only twenty -nine could be received. At the same time a seminar}^ for girls was established at Oodooville, its purpose being as frankly stated 'Ho provide suitable companions for the graduates of the seininary at Batticotta." The significance of this school for girls is seen when one considers that in 1816 there were only three respectable women of Jaffna who were known to be able to read and write, as only dancing girls in the temples were given any sort of education. At first the pupils of this new school were practically adopted by the mission. They were taken between six and ten years of age, from different castes, and kept in school until their marriage, being housed, clothed, and fed by the mission; if married with its approval, they received a dowry of $25. All through this period mission effort in Ceylon was marked by frequent revivals. The first of the series came in 1821 at A Succes- Tillipally. The most notal)le of all was in 1830, sion of when the work of the seminary at Batticotta was Revivals practically suspended for a time, while by day and night there was continuous prayer and confession. These religious awakenings appeared most markedly in the schools; in some cases nearly all the pupils acknowledged themselves disciples of Christ. Not all the converts, however, were young people; among the number were thirty native school- masters. The weakness and indifference of native character were a constant source of anxiety to the missionaries, and disappoint- ments were often heavy. So late as 1843 there was disclosed in Batticotta Seminary a wretched relapse into heathen prac- tises, which almost emptied the school and required prompt and severe discipline. Yet from the early days there were individual cases of unmistakably changed lives, and enough STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 29 of them always to keep heart of hope. Such were the first three native preachers ordained in 1821, of whom the most distinguished was Gabriel Tissera, the first convert received into the church, a man of superior talents, with an ardent thirst for knowledge, who became one of the trusted teachers at Batticotta, and whose influence as teacher, preacher, and leader in all departments of mission life was one of the strong forces of the early years. His letter to Secretary Anderson and his private journal, both of which were beautifully written and rich in information and suggestion, made a profound impression when printed in America. Others there were, no less genuine if less conspicuous witnesses to the power of the gospel on their lives; like that native Christian who, happening near a temple well as one of the worshipers was struggling in the water, with a crowd including temple priests looking idly on, leaped into the well and saved the man, thereby silencing some of those who had been declaiming against Christianit3^^ The death of Gordon Hall shocked but did not paralyze the mission at Bombay. Work went on; converts began to Ahmedna- appear; the press was active, schools popular and gar, 1831 crowded. A start had been made; it was a time (See p. 26) to move forward. After careful tours of exploration Ahmednagar was selected as the best site for a station on the mainland. Situated on the high tableland of the Deccan, 150 miles east of Bombay, a seat of Moslem rule in the time of the Mogul emperors, now a miUtary station of the gov- ernment, it was still a city of importance in the wide dis- trict with its 500,000 inhabitants. Work was begun in the same fashion as at Bombay, except tlfat the missionaries were now better equipped and had the aid of some native helpers, like the Brahman, Babajee, the first to unite with the Bombay church and a valued teacher. Persecution was experienced at first, missionaries being hooted and pelted with 1 The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 32, 30 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD dirt in the streets of the city. But they slowly won their way, the schools here as elsewhere proving an attraction and win- ning confidence. From this new center systematic tours were made through the entire region, with the valued aid of native Christians. Though these tours were openly itineracies for preaching and distributing the printed message, no harm was suffered among a people but a little while before regarded as turbulent plunderers. In the field of the Deccan the mission came in contact with the Mahars and Mangs, two of the outcastes, the latter classed as hereditary beggars and thieves; but here the representatives of these castes were of higher grade than in Bombay. Next to the Brahmans the Mangs furnish the Hindus most of their gurus, or religious teachers, and the Mang converts brought to Christianity some of the best native workers. The recep- tion of these people into the Christian community stirred again the caste spirit and provoked quarrels in the Ahmednagar church which the missionaries met with firm measures. Perse- cution of Brahman converts was bitter, parents wailing over a son who had become a Christian as if he were dead. The charter of 1833 opened India everywhere to the free occupancy of the missionary. With the coming of substantial reenforcements to Ceylon a new mission on the J. ' mainland was begun by Messrs. Spaulding and Poor in the Madura CoUectorate, a Tamil-speaking region across the strait from Jaffna. The city of Madura was first occupied, a principal seat of idolatry in South India, and the ancient and proud capital of a vast agricultural territory. Here, as in West India, the great majority of the people were caste and outcaste Hindus, with a considerable number of Brahmans and Mohammedans. And here again schools were an immediate and sure agency for attracting the people. Within a year, in thirty-five schools were gathered more than 1000 boys and nearly 900 girls. Soon a more advanced school was opened in Madura city. Native help- STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 31 ers were brought from various missions, eight from Batti- cotta. At first the schools suffered somewhat from reports that the missionaries compelled the scholars to swallow a dose prepared to bewilder their minds in order to make Christians of them. Other rumors declared that it was planned to make slaves or soldiers of the children or to transport them to a foreign country. But soon these delusions were dispelled. By 1835 there were three other stations in the mission, and at length, by the close of this period, a chain of stations covered the province, with many Christian congregations and com- munities, village schools, and a substantial seminary at Pasu- malai. That the Board was able thus promptly and easily to launch a mission in the Madras presidency was due in large measure to the skill and tact of its first representatives there. To be sure, the new charter gave them legal footing. But officials might easily and naturally have hindered the introduction of a new sect among the warring religions in this region beyond the governor's oversight. The sagacious mis- sionaries emphasized the value of their schools and the benefits they had brought to the people of Jaffna until the government felt there was nothing fanatical or dangerous in their plans, and they were warmly welcomed by collector and district judge. The battle was thus won before it was joined, and from that day the Madura Mission has enjoyed the good-will of local rulers and the people of the region as well as of the Madras government. A mission was also opened in Madras in 1836, with the coming of Miron Winslow and Dr. John Scudder by another , , transfer from Ceylon. The primary purpose was i8^6 ' ^° ^^^ ^ ^^^ location for a publishing house for the Tamil-speaking people. Both the Church Mission- ary Society and the London Missionary Society, already on the ground, approved the enterprise, and the work undertaken was to some extent cooperative. A large printing press, with Phineas Hunt as printer, was secured in 1838, and a stream of 32 STORY OF THE AIMERICAN BOARD publications, books, Scripture portions, magazines, and tracts began to appear. Though j\Ir. Winslow's time was largely occupied in the revision of the Tamil Scriptures, a work of wide use and influence published in 1850, yet both missionaries were able to undertake tours in various directions, even extend- ing into Tanjore and Mysore. The hardships and dangers incurred on these trips show the stuff of which missionaries are made. The story of Mrs. Scudder, hastening to the help of her husband, who had fallen sick unto death with jungle fever on one of his tours, and spending a night alone with her little son in the worst part of a jungle road, her carriers having fled frightened by the somids of ^^ild beasts, reveals the heroism of the women as well as of the men. Here, as elsewhere, the missionaries encountered opposition; the more impression they made, the greater the antagonism. On one occasion 8000 people met to devise means to prevent the spread of Christianity. It appeared that the Hindu, "though mild and timid, is yet exceedingly stubborn, and when excited, rabid." Some of the converts were frightened away, yet steady gains were made. It was a sorry coincidence that just as the young missions in India were being enlarged and the outlook seemed bright Hard ^or advance, there should have fallen upon America Times the great business depression of 1837. Its effect (See p. 29) was disastrous in the mission field, particularly in Ceylon, where 171 free schools had to be closed. Over 5000 pupils were thus suddenly dismissed, to the grief of the mis- sionaries who had toiled hard to \^in them. The boarding- schools at Batticotta and Oodooville were kept from closing only by a timely donation from the Ceylon government. The heathen exulted over the supposed collapse of the mission; native converts were discouraged and scattered; confidence was lost, and the work crippled for long, if not permanently retarded. The only bright feature of the disaster was the noble beha\Hor of some of the native teachers in the schools. STARTING IN INDIA AND CEYLON 33 who voluntarily kept to their task, though their small stipend was greatly reduced. The missions on the continent were embarra.ssed in like manner, though, owing to the liberal aid of foreign residents and of the government, not to the same extent. So the work was kept from disintegration until the churches in America ralhed again to its support. The young missions were further burdened by various catas- trophes affecting them or the people around them. Fire, famine, and plague were recurring distresses. When cholera broke out in Jaffna in 1846 most of the Christians escaped, but some were stricken; there was general panic; school work and all mission appointments were interrupted, the time and strength of the missionaries being devoted to ministering to the sick and afflicted. Not'VN'ithstanding all these difficulties and distresses, it was impressive to see how the missions continued to grow and even to thrive. Evidently they had \s'ithin them °w^ A ^^^ mystery of life, with all its recuperative powers. As the missionaries looked back after the first gen- eration to see what had been gained, their hearts were full of thanksgi^-ing. In spite of obstacles, inexperience, and mis- takes, as they had sought to follow the leading of God, they had already been enabled to accomplish what to human eyes seemed impossible. Everj-where the schools were recognized as agencies of prime importance. They were not all equally strong; not so well maintained in Ahmednagar as in Bombay, where in particular Mrs. Hume's boarding-school for girls was an influence of first magnitude. The Ceylon missionaries were often anxious about the character of their scholars, wondering whether these ''exotics" would be able to ''endure the deadly blasts." At Madura, when in 1847 the missionaries set themselves to stamp out the caste spirit between Sudras and Pariahs in church and school, and apphed strict tests, Pastmialai Seminary was 34 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD nearly stripped of its teachers as well as scholars, the very life of both church and school being for some time threatened. At best, in all these missions the growth of the churches hardly kept pace with that of the schools. Few churches were able or disposed to bear much responsibility, and there were almost no native preachers. The beginnings of liberal gifts were found in some places, especially in native Bible societies in Ceylon, whose members subscribed for the spread of the Word of God. The press stood beside the school in those days. The printing establishment in Bombay was one of the largest in all India, and at the height of its activity employed more than 100 workmen. The product of the press here and in Madras and Jaffna also was, in amount and influence, almost beyond belief. By 1850 Miron Winslow and his asso- ciates had finished the translation of the entire Bible into Tamil, and it had been published in Madras. Soon after, the Marathi Bible appeared in Bombay. Besides the Scriptures, text-books, religious and secular, dictionaries, hymn-books, tracts, papers, and magazines were being furnished to the growing communities able to read. But the most conspicuous evidence of the progress of these missions during this period is found in the place which they had attained. Herein the passing of a generation marked an immense change. Confidence both of officials and natives had been secured and one barrier after another in the way of Christian toleration had been removed. The schools and the new knowledge taught in them had won the interest and respect of haughty Brahmans, so that other than low-caste men were now being approached. And when in 1850 the council of the governor-general of India passed an act giving protection to Christians and equal rights to all religions throughout the empire, it was recognized that the case was won. Missions were fairly planted in the land where a generation before both natives and Europeans had sought to cast them out. Chapter III FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS When in 1820 the lieutenant-governor of Ceylon advised the American missionaries to turn their attention rather to the Indians of their own country he was quite "^ behind the times. From the beginning it had been the purpose of Christian settlers in the New World to do something for the aborigines. Upon the colonial seal of Massachusetts, under the motto, "Come over and help us," was the figure of an Indian looking toward a star, the reminder of Bethlehem's gift to the world. And from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, answering that imagined appeal, had appeared such men as May hew and Eliot, as John Sergeant, President Edwards and David Brainerd, as Eleazar Wheelock with his Indian school, and Samson Occam, his distinguished pupil, representatives of a gifted and devoted company of men who amid the struggle and excitement of founding this nation labored to make the approach of its civilization a blessing and not a curse to the red man. From its very organization the American Board had the Indians in its thought. Its first address to the Christian pubUc The Pur- in November, 1811, declared the intention to estab- pose of the fish a mission in the East in the Burman empire Board and in the West among the Caghnawaga (Iroquois) tribe of Indians. By 1815 more definite plans could be announced. The Indians in the United States were then esti- mated at 240,000, about 100,000 of them hving east of the Mississippi; of these, the four southern tribes, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks, made up about 70,000. 35 36 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD After tours of exploration, in which Samuel J. Mills, William Goodell, and Cyrus Kingsbury were engaged, in accordance with their judgment and encouraged by the success of a Pres- byterian missionary among the Cherokees so early as 1804, the Board decided that these southern tribes of Indians offered the most promising material upon which to begin work. In January, 1817, Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury arrived at the first location among the Cherokees, on the southern border Cherokee ^^ Tennessee, close to the Georgia hne, the region Mission of Chattanooga, afterward to be made famous by Opened, memorable battles of the Civil War, one of which 1817 swept across Mission Ridge. In memory of earlier efforts for the red men the missionaries named their first station Brainerd. The plan of operation was definitely announced: to establish schools in different parts of the tribe under mis- sionary direction and superintendence; to teach common- school learning and the useful arts of life and Christianity; so gradually to make the whole tribe English in language, civilized in habits, and Christian in religion. The United States government gave its cordial approval to the undertaking. By order of President Madison the Secre- tary of War promised definite aid to the enterprise, such as needed buildings, tools for the farm, and spinning-wheels and looms for the girls' school. But upon the arrival of Mr. Kings- bury and the associates who soon followed him, it appeared that no buildings had been erected, and the missionaries were compelled to hew the logs and build the cabins in which they were both to live and to work. Schools were begun at once, made up both of full-blooded Cherokees and half-breeds, with Sabbath-schools for the black people. Twenty-six were almost immediately enrolled as pupils. The schools were organized after the Lancastrian pattern, a method devised by an English scholar, Joseph Lan- caster, in which the older or more advanced students served as monitors and taught the younger, thus reducing the number O xfi «^ g J ^ ^ d § S ^ tf « ^ < < ^ fe O 02 CO p o w ?s < Tt^ lOCD H (^ «2 D o ;z S o S o M P5 M G ^ ^ 02 O ^ ^ o ^ ^ ^ kH kH 02 PQ P3 S -H(MCO FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 37 of foreign teachers and making possible a larger number of scholars. The routine of life was strenuous here, as in Ceylon, and as the missionaries' purpose was to train hand as well as head, the recreation of their pupils was provided for mainly R ult ^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ *^^ schoolhouse to the field. From sunrise until nine o'clock at night the day's round was followed. Yet all labored cheerfully and effectively, even to the surprise of their teachers. When Secretary Treat made a visit of inspection in May of the second year, he found a farm of forty-five acres under cultivation, all manner of mission buildings finished and occupied, with some thirty head of cattle besides other stock in the barns. A year later, when President Monroe unexpectedly walked in to see exactly how the mission was prospering, he was loud in his appreciation of all that was being done, declaring that so effective a work needed even better equipment, and authorizing the Indian agent to provide for the expense of a new and better house. Progress along religious lines was quite as notable. From the first, converts to the Christian faith appeared. The church in the wilderness grew in numbers much faster than in eastern lands. It was impressive to watch some of the converts, like that husky Cherokee half-breed, Charles Reece, once swimming the river in the face of his enemies to seize their canoes, now bowing before the gospel and becoming one of the early helpers of the mission ; or John Arch, who, hearing of the school for his people, traveled 100 miles to Brainerd, offering his gun to pay for his tuition — so wild in appearance when he arrived that the missionaries hesitated to receive him, but soon showing signs of a new life, developing a remarkable thirst for knowledge, and becoming the missionaries' trusted interpreter and helper, a shining witness to his people of the reality of the Christian life. The methods of religious train- ing were as rigorous as those in the school. Church services were frequent and tests of piety severe. But Secretary Treat 38 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD remarked the tractableness of the children, and there seemed at first no disposition to rebel under the discipline. Such quick success stirred the missionaries to greater en- deavors and strengthened the purpose of their supporters. Reenforce- Reenforcements came soon and strongly to these ments and missions in the south. A prosperous young farmer Outreach- of New Jersey and a group of his friends arrived "^S with their families, offering themselves as industrial missionaries, adept in various trades, purposing to give their lives to the helping of the Indian races. As the Board planned to make Brainerd simply the center of operations for reaching the entire Cherokee nation, excursions were frequently made to promote acquaintance with the people and to find new openings for settlements. These advances were met with cordial good-will by the chiefs who visited the mission school and expressed a hearty appreciation of its work. The purpose to reach also the other tribes was not forgotten. Accordingly, upon arrival of the first reenforcements at Brain- Mission to erd, and after careful exploration by Mr. Cornelius, the Choc- Messrs. Kingsbury and Williams moved on to open taws, 1818 work in the Choctaw nation, the largest of the four tribes originally contemplated. The new mission was thus located 400 miles southwest of Brainerd, within the charter limits of Mississippi and 100 miles from its northern boundary. Here, also, the expected buildings were not found and the mis- sionaries, though weakened by sickness, delayed supplies, and the hardships of life in the wilderness, were again obliged to fell the trees and lay out the new station, which, in memory of the first apostle to the Indians, they named Eliot. There was no time to dwell upon hardships. Before the buildings were up some Choctaws came a distance of 160 miles, bringing eight promising children for the school, which they supposed was ready to receive them. These first pupils were crowded into the missionaries' home, and teaching was begun on the 19th of April. FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 39 The round of work in school and on the farm, and the weekly calendar of services for Indians, half-breeds, negroes, and whites were much the same as at Brainerd. The Choctaw people ardently welcomed the missionaries and, being possessed of fine lands and considerable wealth, were able to subscribe generously toward the equipment and conduct of the mission, the United States government joining in its aid. Within a year from the opening of the mission, the Choctaw nation had voted to donate the entire annuity received from the sale of lands to the United States, amounting to $500, to the support of the mission school. While such material help was wel- comed, the missionaries were dismayed at the prevalent immo- rality, not only among the Indians, but among the white settlers, whereby all classes were callous to the rehgion which the newcomers brought them. A portion of the Cherokees, amounting in all to one-third of the tribe, had migrated west of the Mississippi into the The wilderness of the Arkansas and Missouri, inspired Arkansas partly by their dislike for the growing civiliza- Mission, tion of their old home and partly by rumors that ^^^^ the government intended to transfer them with other tribes to meet the increasing demand for their ter- ritory. In 1821, after careful inquiry and repeated attempts, the Board began a mission also among this part of the Cherokees at a station called Dwight, a little north of the Arkansas and nearly 500 miles, as the stream flows, from its junction with the Mississippi. It was a terrific undertaking to plant this mission, involving a journey of some 700 miles through swamps and trackless forests, prolonged exposure to malarial fever, and the daily dangers of such pioneering. The first attempt failed. Upon a second trial, the party at last staggered on to their destination. Finally, men and sup- plies arrived and the mission got under way. Among a people wild and restless and not too favorably inclined toward mis- 40 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD sionary effort, it was a matter of course that the beginning of work should be hard and slow. Thus by 1821 the American Board had three missions for the Indians. Each year new stations were added, new schools Develop- started, and longer tours for preaching and teaching ing the were ventured upon. Dr. Butrick covered hun- Establish- dreds of miles in his journeys through the region, ment entering into the people's life, counseling them in their affairs, healing many of their sicknesses, and always win- ning confidence and wider influence. If the church statistics do not show a rapid gain, yet the leavening influence of mis- sionary work was manifest. Laws and courts of justice were secured; the dwellings of the people were more comfortable from year to year; industry was more regular and persistent. Even the less progressive Choctaws were persuaded to adopt laws against intemperance and the horrible custom of infanticide. A factor of great importance in the progress of the Cherokees was the invention of one of their number, George Guess, an ignorant half-breed, who could neither read nor speak English. Yet upon learning the idea of an alphabet, he actually devised one of eighty-six characters, with a symbol for every syllable of the Cherokee tongue. With this peculiar alphabet he began to write letters, to the admiration of his tribesmen, who flocked to learn the new method of easy writing and reading. In three days these pupils were able to master the principles and go home to teach others, and in three years nearly all the adult population in some places, and of all the tribe half, were capable of reading their own language. One advantage to the Board of these missions to the southern Indians, in particular that to the Cherokees in Tennessee, was Some their accessibility to the common routes of travel. Readjust- They had many visitors, some of whom came long ments, distances to observe the marvel of the missionary ^5 work for the Indians; their high appreciation as well as substantial gifts were a constant encouragement. Govern- FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 41 ment officials also made regular tours of inspection, and quar- terly grants of from $200 to $300 were made to the schools at Brainerd, Eliot, and Mayhew during the early '20s. The secretary of the Board, also, was able to visit these Indian missions as he could not those over sea. And while obstacles seemed almost overpowering in the foreign field, it was of no small value to the missionary cause that the Indian missions should be so quickly getting hold. In the year 1820 one-half of the missionaries and nearly half the expenditures of the Board were for work among the Indians of North America. The closer watch entailed a more direct supervision of the work, and as a result of Secretary Evarts' visit in 1824 certain changes were made at Brainerd, with the intent to make them also in the other Indian missions. It was felt that too much stress had been put upon merely industrial training. Instead of maintaining a large number of farmers and mechanics, as members of the mission, which was thus tending to become absorbed in secular pursuits, it was determined to leave the Indians to make their own engagements of teachers in the arts and to set the missionaries free from these distractions. And instead of building up large centers of work, the new policy should be to spread out the missionary force as widely as possible. At the same time it was decided both in Cherokee and Choctaw nations that the Indian youth in the schools should be taught their own language first, the early policy of teaching them nothing but English, that they might become the more quickly civilized, being thus modified by experience. • The progress of the Indian missions and the interest they aroused encouraged the American Board to larger undertak- New ings, while the breadth of its fellowship and policies Missions, opened to it new fields of work. In 1826-27 the 1826-27 United Foreign Missionary Society, an organization formed some years before by the Presbyterians, together with the Dutch and Associated Reformed churches, to conduct 42 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD missionary work among the Indians of North and South America, transferred to the American Board the care of its Indian missions: among two companies of Osages, one in Arkansas, near the border of the Cherokee country, and the other in Missouri; a mission in the famous Mackinaw region, the rendezvous for Indians of all the northwestern tribes; another at Maumee, in Ohio, in the midst of several small tribes, and still another for various New York tribes in the general region of Buffalo. At the same time the Board assumed the care of the remnant of the famous Stockbridge Indians, and of the Chickasaw mission taken over from the Presbyterian synod of South Carolina and Georgia. The Board's Indian field was now widely extended among tribes of differing character. The religious ideas of many of them may be judged from the statement of an old brave of the Osages, who said that he knew of only four gods, the sun, the moon, and two constellations; the sun required men to go to war and bring a scalp, the moon to bring a skin for moccasins, and one of the constellations required the Indians to paint their leader when they go to war; he supposed the Osages would live after death at an old town on the Missouri, that they would hunt and go to war, and that different tribes would remain in different places. A dozen years of work had wrought great changes in the fields of the South. The Cherokees were well up with their The Storm white neighbors in education and material pros- Breaks, perity. Christianity was also accepted, at least 1828 outwardly, by most of the people. Intemperance had been checked and family life greatly improved. A similar development was manifest among the Choctaws. Moreover, a religious awakening had come to that tribe during 1829, bringing many hundreds of inquirers to the missionaries, the chiefs being the leaders of their people in the new movement. To the eager missionaries it seemed a wonderful display of divine power. Altogether there was a spirit of great hope- FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 43 fulness in the Indian work, when the blow fell that had long been dreaded. The state and national governments had joined in the deter- mination to move the Indians of the South beyond the Missis- sippi, and apprehensions of this removal threw the people of the four tribes affected into great agitation. Efforts to transfer them had been made in earlier years; before 1818 the Choc- taws had made three cessions of their lands, thus belying the meaning of their name Alabama (''Here we rest"). But not until 1828 did the United States put its heavy hand to the task of virtually evicting these people from their land. The nearness of the white settlers, which the mis- sionaries had counted upon as a help to their work, proved to be a double misfortune: their unstable people had been continually exposed to the temptations of the white man's vices; they were now to be made the victims of his greed for their land. The Choctaws, and after them the Chickasaws, were finally persuaded to make treaties with the government, ceding their territories. The immediate effect of this sale was demoral- izing in the extreme. Despondency, forebodings, lapses into idleness and intemperance followed the signing of the treaty. The work of the mission was of course sadly injured. No provision was made for refunding any part of the $60,000 invested by the Board in the plant; the devoted labor of twelve years could not be repaid by any indemnity. The Cherokees resisted to the utmost, sending protests to Washington, but finally, by artifice, intimidation, and false promises, a fraction of the tribe assented to the new treaty. Meanwhile the state of Georgia was proceeding as if all had been settled according to her will. The Cherokees' territory was divided and sold by lot while yet the tribe was living on it. With the new settlers came all manner of vices and law- lessness. Everywhere was disorder and confusion; bands of Indians wandered about in idleness and despair. 44 STORY OF THE A]\1ERICAN BOARD The missionaries were left in worse plight, if possible; maligned by the whites as having encouraged the Indians to Persecu- r^sis^t removal and hated by the Indians as belong- tion of ing to the race that was oppressing them, if they Mission- were not indeed acting as its secret emissaries, axies Against both these misjudgments the Board and its missionaries asserted themselves vigorously. Worse treatment was before some of these devoted men. One of the blackest pages in this country's history is the record of the high-handed procedure against the missionaries by the state of Georgia. A law had been passed, evidently meant to drive them from the state. When thej^ ignored this law, stanchng on their rights as United States citizens dwelhng in the Cherokee nation, and remained at their stations, arrests followed, in which missionaries of other Boards were also involved. In one seizure, in July, 1831, ]Mr. Worcester and Dr. Butler were both taken. The story of their arrest, imprisonment, and trial is a record of brutalitj^ almost beyond belief. On the way to the jail Dr. Butler had his neck fastened by a chain and padlock to the neck of a horse, by the side of which he walked, until midnight, when, drenched with rain, the party reached a lodging-place. All through the next day Dr. Butler wore this chain about his neck, sometimes walking and sometimes permitted to ride on the long journey to the jail. For eleven days of mid-sum- mer these men and others who had been arrested were left to lie in a filthy log prison, without window, bed, or other article of fmniture, forbidden to receive or send any letter or to have an inter^^ew with a friend except in the hearing of a guard, and forced to hsten to all maimer of blasphemous and obscene taimts as they were made the butt of the soldiers* ridicule. A favorite joke of their captors was to look in upon them, as they lay awaiting their trial, and repeat the words of the iMaster, ''Fear not, httle flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.'' FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 46 Yet these heroes made the best of their circumstances, enlarged some holes in the wall for a little more light and air, and were grateful that they no longer had to wear chains. At length the trial came off, conducted wholly in military fashion and with much parade. Although their defense was ably argued, the jury found them guilty and they were sentenced to four years of hard labor. The case being carried to the Supreme Court, this act of the Georgia tribunal was nullified and revoked; whereupon the court of Georgia actually refused to yield and the governor declined to interfere and release the prisoners. Undismayed, the missionaries settled down to prison life, and endured it for fifteen months, when the frightened officials proposed that the missionaries should be freed if they would drop the case. With the finding of the Supreme Court as their vindication the prisoners accepted the goveror's proc- lamation of release. Immediately upon their deliverance these missionaries returned to their stations and attempted to resume their labors. The But it was manifestly impossible to do any satis- Forced factory work. On every hand settlers were coming Removal [j^^ and the Indians were too excited over the prospect of their transfer to follow the routine of mission life. The Choctaws had already gone to their new home; 7000 or 8000 of them were transferred during the fall and winter of 1831, the remaining 15,000 being taken the following year. The officers in charge appear to have been generally consid- erate in their treatment. Yet the suffering and loss were heavy and there was an appalling amount of sickness and death. The one bright spot in the story of the journey is where it records the behavior of the Christian Choctaws. By their soberness and good order, their morning and evening worship, and Sabbath rest, they formed a striking contrast to some of their companions. The captain of a boat carrying one party said they were the most rehgious people he had 46 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ever seen, and an agent declared that the Choctaws who had been under the influence of the missionaries were not half so troublesome as the others. In 1837 the Cherokees also had to go. They had been hoping against hope that something would occur to prevent the carrying out of the treaty, but at length soldiers came and drove them into an encampment, to make ready for the long journey. Their transfer was much like that of the Choctaws. The agents in charge did their best; yet the suffering and want were appalling. Not less than 4000 deaths were numbered by the time they arrived in Arkansas, ten months later. In this company, too, the behavior of the Christian Indians made a good impression. Yet the anger and grief of their hearts over what they regarded as an outrage of their treaty rights was sorrowfully manifest in the bloodshed that followed their reunion with those already in Arkansas, who, they felt, had betrayed them. In the case of the Chickasaws no removal was necessary; for having the proceeds of their sale of lands to live upon, they so gave themselves up to idleness, drunkenness, and gambling that they faded away and their independent existence was lost. In this demoralization of the tribe, nearly one-half the members of the church relapsed. Though some endured the temptations and some were restored, the situation became so hopeless that the mission was closed in 1835. When it became apparent that the work among the Indians in the South was thus to be broken up the Board turned its attention to fresh fields, following the transferred ^ ®^ tribes to their new homes and extending its Unes to other tribes in the North and Northwest. Suc- cessive tours through all the Indian country beyond the Mis- sissippi resulted in the opening of a group of new missions in the early '30s: the Ojibwa (1831), Creek (1832), Pawnee (1834), Oregon (Nez Perces and Flathead), Dakota (or Sioux), and Abenaqui (1835). By 1836 the tribes within the hmits FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 47 of the states and territories of the Union had practically dis- appeared and the effort had been transferred to lands on the western frontier. Two hnes of approach were made to these western Indians: from the South to each of the emigrant tribes, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks; thence to the Pawnee country, and, following the direction of Mr. Kingsbury's tour, to the stations among the Flathead and Nez Perces Indians by the Oregon River. On the north the chain of missions began with the Mackinaw and Stockbridge Indians; then from the southwest shore of Lake Superior the line extended through the Ojibwa country to the headwaters of the Mississippi, into the region of the Sioux, whose bands continued westward to the head- waters of the Missouri. Thence it was planned to extend the chain to the west until it should intersect the first line beyond the Rocky Mountains. Though work in the new fields was begun bravely and with the wisdom born of experience on the part of missionaries, it Disap- became more and more clear that little was being pointing accomplished. It was not simply that there were Experi- few converts, as in the Osage Mission, where after ences ^^^ years not one could be counted. The fact was that the roving and lawless habits of the Indian, the inter- ference of hostile white men, the growing prejudice against a government which broke its treaties so lightly, together with the repeated removals of the tribes as the country expanded, made constructive work almost impossible. Many of these new missions were short-lived. The incoming of whites led to the ceasing of effort for the Creeks and Osages in 1836; the shifting of tribal homes closed the mission to the Maumees in 1835, of that to the Mackinaws in 1836, and to the Stock- bridge Indians in 1848. The Pawnee mission was taken over by other denominations in 1848. The mission to the Sioux was the only one of those more recently estabhshed which proved long-lived. The work for 48 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD this largest and most warlike tribe on the continent, dwelling on the upper Mississippi and its tributaries and roaming over Minnesota and west to the Black Hills, was begun under the lead of Dr. Williamson and the brothers Pond, and soon branched out from its center at Fort Snelling over a wide area. It was the roughest sort of life which these missionaries to the Sioux experienced. The tribe lived in typical Indian fashion, in wigwams, and tepees, swinging from ^^^,.^. plenty to famine, according to the fortunes of the Conditions ^ -^ ,tt, -i i • • • ^ ^^ -, hunt. While the missionaries were not obliged to dwell with the Indians, they had to share much of their life; mention is made of hickory chips being boiled to get nourishment. With two locations from the first, at Lake Harriet, near the Falls of St. Anthony, and at Lac-qui-parle, the missionaries had at least a fixed habitation, while the tribe, roving here and there, were sometimes near them and sometimes far away. It was slow work at best and a test of patience and faith. The religion of the Sioux seemed to the missionaries full of superstition and fear, a pantheism running down to devil- worship. The braves held the message of the gospel to be womanish, and taunted any who listened to it. Yet prog- ress was made and characters were transformed, like that of Joseph Renville, the half-breed agent of the American Fur Company, who acted as interpreter for the mission- aries, and whose home was ever a hospitable resting-place for them. By 1850 two churches had been formed, with some steadfast and consistent members, though lapses were frequent and distressing. Here, as elsewhere in missionary labor, the more evident the progress, the fiercer the opposition became. One of the signs of increasing influence was an intense spirit of persecution. The unhappy experience of trying to work for Indians just where they met the tide of white emigration prompted the FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 49 desire to open a mission beyond the frontier where the mis- sionaries might escape its influence for evil. Several explor- The Ore- ing tours were made, one in 1829 on the Pacific gon Indi- coast by Rev. J. S. Green, a Sandwich Islands mis- ans, 1836 sionary, with no encouraging result. Other parties went overland across the Rockies in 1834-35. Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. Marcus Whitman, a physician from New York state, made up the second party. So long before as 1804-06 Lewis and Clark, on their tour to the coast, had promised to send to the Nez Perces Inchans the desired religious teachers. After the Indians had waited long in vain, upon some further Christian teaching from a few fur traders, a deputation of five was despatched to St. Louis, where they stirred the hearts of the Christian public by their pathetic lament for the mis- sionaries that had not come. It was partly in answer to their appeal that, as the Ameri- can Board pathfinders came upon a band of these Nez Perces, the mission to the Northwest Indians was located in what is now the state of Washington, with Dr. and Mrs. Whitman at Waiilatpu, near the present city of Walla Walla, among the Kayuses, and with Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, among the Nez Perces, near the northern boundary of the territory. So remote was this new mission that literally the longest way round was the shortest way home, most of the supplies being sent to the missionaries by way of the Sandwich Islands. Indeed, Dr. Whitman's first helper was a Christian Sandwich Islander who had come to the Pacific coast. Another con- nection with the Board's mission in mid-Pacific was established when, a printing press being needed for the Oregon Indians, the old mission press, no longer required in the Sandwich Islands, was sent to become a part of the equipment of the new field. I Reenforcements followed along the difficult trail, and at the same time the Methodists opened a mission in the Willa- mette valley. As the Indians were hospitable and ready to 50 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD help, a Christian church was soon estabhshed. At first it seemed that a strong impression was to be made; but as time went on and curiosity slackened the Indians became indifferent, in some cases hostile. Discouragement and some disagreement followed among members of the mission. By 1842 the ques- tion of contracting the field was being discussed and the Pru- dential Committee had even voted that the southern station should be closed. A meeting of the mission, called to consider the situation, decided that this action was not wise and urged that Dr. Whitman should visit ''the United States" to see if it could not be revoked. The story of that hurried journey has become so famous in American history that it need not be retold here. For by the testimony of fellow mission- aries and from various other contemporary sources it has been brought out that the second, some say the primary object of Whitman's ride, was to save Oregon to the United States. This exploit of Dr. Whitman has come to be challenged as a myth; both his purpose and his accomplishment have been made the subject of almost fierce controversy. The denials upon one side have been far more sweeping than the claims upon the other. Much of the "evidence" has been challenged as inconclusive and even as manifestly false. In the face of this bitter dispute and with all the data not fully tested, one may hesitate to express an absolute or final judgment. But certain facts are evident from the records of the American Board and from other unimpeachable testimony that has been slowly gathered. It is clear that there were difficulties in mission management which prompted the sending of Whitman to Boston; it is no less clear that he was much concerned as to the settlement of the Oregon country and eager that the inter- ests of the United States, and particularly Protestant interests, should be dominant therein, so eager indeed that the officers of the Board and some of his fellow missionaries felt that Whitman had been too much diverted from his missionary FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 51 "work to activity in public affairs. Competent witnesses estab- lish at least these facts : his daring ride, his visit to Washington, his interview with President Tyler, his satisfactory explanation of his conduct and plans to the Board's officers in Boston, and his return to the mission as companion and helper, if not actually organizer of an emigrant band that brought new settlers with wagons into the territory whose destiny was at stake. Unquestionably lapses of memory, possibly flights of imagination, are discoverable in some of the reminiscences of those who have contributed to the story. But there are too many honest witnesses and too many precise and corrobo- rative statements to permit the brushing aside of the whole story as a myth. After making just allowance for what may be legendary, the figure of Marcus Whitman as missionary hero and statesman is left fundamentally as historical as that of Paul Revere. Another dramatic event which gave fame to the Oregon Mission was its sudden close in the massacre of 1847. There The Ore- had been signs of trouble during the preceding gon Mas- winter. The causes are not altogether clear. It sacre ^^s said that an unusual amount of sickness had by some been charged to Dr. Whitman's medicine. It came out later that the plot contemplated the slaying only of American missionaries; Frenchmen and Roman Catholics were to be spared, which facts point to certain influences as fomenting dis- cord. The execution of the plot was swift and terrible. Almost before the company in the mission premises at Waiilatpu realized what was coming, the Indians burst into the house and the first deadly blow was struck. Details are too revolting to be related here. All the cruel ingenuity of the savage was let loose. Both Dr. and Mrs. Whitman were ruthlessly slaugh- tered, while the surviving children were assembled to be shot in the room where their father lay, horribly cut and mangled, but still breathing. But for some reason at last the com- mand was given to spare them. 52 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Through the efforts of the Hudson Bay Company and the cooperation of some friendly Indians, the survivors of the massacre and the missionaries at other stations were quickly brought to safety. The escape of several, in particular of Mr. Spalding, was marvelous. In the face of this crushing disaster it was manifestly impossible to continue the mission in so lonely and indefensible locations. All the stations were soon abandoned; most of the missionaries, however, remaining in the territory, where some of them, notably Mr. Spalding and Cushing EeUs, were yet to render distinguished service. Not for many years and then under other auspices did the way open to reestablish a mission on this martyr ground. Since there were many southern churches of one denomina- tion or another in the constituency, it was inevitable that the Anti- American Board should be involved in the early Slavery agitation over slavery. In the settlements among Questions Cherokees and Choctaws there were from the begin- ning negro slaves. Not a few Indians were slaveholders, and some of them became members of the native churches. A slave and his owner were occasionally found in the same church or Christian community. So early as 1840 a memorial was presented to the Board at its annual meeting by ministers from New York state remonstrating against the solicitation of gifts from slaveholders or slaveholding states. The next year it was New Hampshire ministers who presented a memorial. They recognized that the Board had been '^ goaded in unchris- tian methods," and "censured for not carrying out plans that were neither wise nor good"; but they declared that the Board should not keep silence, but make known its views and feel- ings in the matter. The answer, repeated year by year to these memorials, was that while the Board could sustain no relation to slavery which implied approbation or sympathy, it could not declare itself in measures against this system any more than against any other specific form of evil existing in the community. It had one definite task to do, and it could not FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 63 be diverted to become an agitator or a makeweight on either side of the controversy. As the years went on and the anti- slavery agitation became more bitter, this non-committal atti- tude was increasingly unsatisfactory, the debates at the annual meetings grew more intense and the policy of the Board less confident. By 1842 there were threats of another missionary society. Indeed, the American Missionary Association, founded in 1846, and which set out to serve the heathen abroad as well as the negroes at home, was designed to be an effective protest against what its founders deplored as a timid and compromising attitude. Later, when opinion cleared and hardened, the American Board began to express itself more distinctly as opposed to slavery. An earnest, not to say sharp correspondence followed between the officers of the Board and its missionaries among the Cherokees and Choctaws. Even so fine and loyal a soul as Mr. Kingsbury, one of the founders of the mission, pleaded for the continuance of a temporizing policy until conditions should change, declaring that while they abhorred slavery the missionaries to the southern Indians, situated as they were, could not break sharply with it. The situation was difficult and delicate. On the one hand was the rather violent, uncompromising abolitionist, who sought to make the Board his advocate; on the other, were some of its devoted missionaries and their loyal converts and church members, who pleaded that the Board was disrupting its missions by allowing itself to become a court of appeal in questions that were outside of its jurisdiction. Between these extremes stood the large constituency of the Board, arraying itself more and more against slavery, yet disposed to move cautiously and patiently, and desirous not to involve the Board more than was necessary in disputes it could not settle. It is not to be wondered at, or perhaps to be deprecated, that the course of the Board was somewhat temporizing until the sentiment had strengthened and the progress of events made 54 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD it possible to cut out the sore without destroying the Hfe of the missions. And if some of the old supporters of the Board were ahenated, their defection occasioned the American Mis- sionary Association. That result, like the withdrawal of Judson from the first mission of the American Board, though regarded at the time as a calamity, has proved to be a gain to the kingdom of God. A review of the Indian missions, after a generation of effort, prompts some disappointment. Fields undertaken at great A Resume ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ money were already closed; others of the were languishing. Before the flood of white immigra- Period, tion, the red man was slowly but surely falling back 1850 Qj. falling under. The extinction of some tribes was imminent. The Indian tribes were not, however, by any means alike: they differed as do the various white peoples. Forest tribes were ever more amenable to missionary work than those of the prairie; the eastern and southern tribes were more inclined to adopt civilized ways than the more savage and degraded Indians of the West. But all were kept unsettled and irritated by their frequent transfers. The white man's word came to be little respected, so that the reputation and good-will of the missionaries were seriously hurt in the eyes of those who inclined to regard them as of like character with the rest of their race. While many of the government agents were men of good principles and just intent, the careless or wanton action of one official often spoiled much good ser- vice. Sometimes the example of the Indian agents as weU as of white traders was desperately bad. But this view of the situation, though true to facts, does not represent all the facts or rightly measure the value of the work which had been done so far by these missions to the aborigines of America. In spite of all obstacles and interrup- tions, and the difficulty of the Indian's nature and life, solid results were evident. Some tribes were now fairly to be called civilized, having all the customs, laws, and institutions FOLLOWING INDIAN TRAILS 55 of Christian states and communities. Industry and thrift had been instilled into natures predisposed to idleness. Thousands had been won to the Christian way and gathered into church membership. And in all the missions there were shiuing examples of Christian character and life. The cause of tem- perance, which touched the Indian's besetting sin, had so far advanced in some of the nations, notably the Cherokee and Choctaw tribes, that the general sentiment of the people was against the sale of intoxicating liquors within their boundaries. Conspicuous among the missionary achievements of the period are to be reckoned these Indian missions wherein a heroic and devoted company had proved themselves true witnesses of Christ to his needy ones; in the very spirit of their Master they laid down their lives for those who often behaved as their enemies. Chapter IV ■• TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS The beginning of the American Board's mission to the Sandwich Islands Hes back of the organization of the Board itself. When Samuel Mills came down from Will- ^^^ . iams College to be a graduate student at Yale, he found there Henry Obookiah. This lad had left the islands during a civil war in which his father and mother had been killed before his eyes, and his infant brother speared to death as he was carrying him on his back. The kindly sea captain, with whom he found refuge, brought him and two other waifs to this country and to New Haven. There Oboo- kiah was discovered one day on the steps of the college, crying for sheer loneliness and with hunger for the education which he saw others were getting. To the flaming heart of Mills the boy's story of his land and its people was irresistible. He reported it to Gordon Hall: ''What does this mean? Brother Hall, do you understand it? Shall he be sent back unsup- ported to attempt to reclaim his countrymen? Shall we not rather consider these southern islands a proper place for the establishment of a mission?" From that time the Sandwich Islands were not out of the minds of some of the founders of American foreign missions. Obookiah died before he was ready to return to his people, and his death reenforced the appeal to send them missionaries. The first band was ready to be sent out in October, 1819. After prolonged and impressive services in Park Street Church, The First Boston, including the organizing of the adults into Mission- a church and the celebration of the Lord's Supper aries \^y ^ great company, the party embarked, Saturday, the 23d, on the brig Thaddeus, for the long voyage to the Pacific. 56 THE POISON GOD THEN AND NOW IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 57 There were twenty-one in the party : two ordained missionaries, Rev. Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, two teachers, a physi- cian, a printer, and a farmer, the wives and children of these men, and three natives of the Sandwich Islands, young men who, hke Obookiah, had been trained in the foreign mission school at Cornwall, Conn., and were believed to be prepared for Christian work among their own people. The five months' voyage around the Horn gave time for speculation as to what might befall the party on their arrival. A Sur- Would they be allowed to land? If so, would it prising be peace or war? What shocking idolatry, cruel Reception sacrifices, and revolting superstitions would they face? The prospect tested courage. For the judgment of Captain Cook, who discovered the island, that a white man would not be safe there, had been justified by his own murder; while in the neighboring Society Islands EngUsh missionaries had but just won out in a struggle for very fife. Imagine the amazement of these Americans when they reached Hawaii and sent Hopu ashore to have him come quickly back, waving his hat and shouting, '^Oahu's idols are no more!" It seemed that when the old king Kamehameha had died in the pre- ceding May, his son had straightway overthrown the religion of the land, abolishing its rules and rites, deposing the priest- hood, forbidding idolatry and human sacrifice, and doing all this with the consent of the high priests and the approval of the people. The idols were burned or dumped into the sea. The missionaries found a land that had disposed of its tradi- tional religion and was ready for another. This overthrow of idolatry was not due to the awakening of a higher religious idea; it was only a revolt from an unbear- Not a ^ble oppression. The chief feature of the Hawaiian Religious religious system was the tabu, in some respects a Reforma- more terrible bondage than caste in India. For it **^^ was a rigid system of prohibition touching every person and all his possessions and actions. It put into the 58 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD hands of higher personages, chiefs and priests, the weapon of an absolute and arbitrary control by which they could claim or doom whatever they would. The penalty of tabu was death; the fear of it made hfe one long terror. It was the growing revolt against this burden, particuarly bound up with the exercises of religion, that enabled LihoHho to wipe out at once and completely the religion of the island. When the king, albeit in a drunken orgy, himself broke the tabu, by eating swine flesh, the news spread through all the islands and the old system was forever abandoned. Although the missionaries rejoiced with gratitude to God that their arrival should have been so well timed, it was by The Stu- 110 means a small or easy task which was left to pendous them. Notwithstanding their break with the past, Task these islanders could hardly yet be called other than savages like the rest of the Polynesians. It was their habit to put out of the way the aged and the infirm, casting them over precipices or burying them alive. Cripples were the common object of sport even to the children, and sympathy and kindness were almost unknown. Naturally a well-formed and vigorous people, apparently of the Malay race, they were so depleted by war and vice that their number had decreased from perhaps 300,000 to about 130,000. The ten islands making up the group had altogether an area less than that of Massachusetts, cut up into little kingdoms, till the masterful Kamehameha I brought all under his sway. Such civilization as he could command he adopted, securing some vessels, building forts and drilling his soldiers; but no real progress in the arts had been made. There was no written language nor any thought of one, no commerce, trade, or regular industry. The people lived chiefly on the few tropical products of their islands, with an occasional delicacy of raw fish. They had not even learned to use the sugar-cane or arrow-root that were growing all about them. As for their home life, they lived in the rudest of low hovels. Men, women, TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 59 and children crowded into the one room, where they slept on the ground covered with grass or a thin mat, with the domestic animals huddled round them, and rose in the morning to eat from the same calabash of poi, their fingers serving as knives and forks; at the close of the meal the great pipe was passed about from father to four-year-old child. Under such physical conditions, it was not surprising to find the moral status of the people terribly low; and it was Moral at almost its lowest point wlicn the missionaries Degrada- arrived. Marriage and famil}^ ties were scarcely tion regarded. Children were not desired, and were seldom taken care of by their own parents. If nobody would take them, they were strangled or buried alive. There was no sense of modesty; not only children, but men and women for the most part went without clothing. The king, with his five wives, called on Mr. Ruggles just as they came from the surf; when reproved, he came the next time wearing a pair of silk stockings and a hat! The eighth commandment was as little regarded as the seventh; thievery was everywhere. The people were a race of gamblers, and since they had come into touch with the white men, were fast becoming a race of drunkards. With no regular habits of work, gorging themselves when there was plenty and fasting when there was little, turning night into day, living entirely by impulse and as circumstances made easy, they were so indolent, brutish, and unrehable that it was a desperate outlook for those who came with the hope of win- ning them to Christian life and civilization. A fortnight's conference was required to settle the question whether the missionaries should be received. Before the king A Wel- and his trusted counselors, the two wives of his come and father, Keopuolani and Kaahumanu, the prime Location minister, Kalanimoku, known by the foreigners as ''Billy Pitt," and other chiefs and governors, women as well as men, the newcomers stated their case, asking permission to 60 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD remain for a year on trial. Here, as in Turkey, the fact that the missionaries had brought their wives convinced a suspi- cious people that they had come to dwell and not to plunder. The Sandwich Islands chiefs said, ''If they had come to fight they would not have brought their women." Their request was granted, and they were allowed to occupy three stations, Kailua on Hawaii, Honolulu on Oahu, and Waimea on Kauai. The king showed them such hospitahty as he had to offer, providing for the temporary shelter of these twenty-two per- sons, "a large barn-like thatched structure, without floor, ceihng, partition, windows, or furniture." Soon the company divided to occupy the several stations. When a little later the court was transferred to Honolulu, the Thurstons, not daring to stay in Kailua without the protection of the king's presence, followed him to the new capital. It is worthy of note, perhaps, that the act of a coarse priest in Kailua, who attempted to lay his hands upon Mrs. Thurston one day while her husband was at the school, was the only insult ever offered by a native of the islands to the missionary ladies. The starting of work among such a people involved not only learning their language, but reducing it to written form. The Press As the alphabet was short and simple, this was not and the difficult. Within two years it was possible to use School the printing press, and by the beginning of 1822 the first sheet was printed. Schools were soon opened, pupils coming from the families of the chiefs, the king himself being one of them. It was considered to be a prerogative of royalty to have the earliest benefit of what the missionaries brought. The governors of the islands thought that each of them should have a resident missionary as a sort of private tutor, and the schools were largely extended through the patronage of the chiefs. When a native teacher was made ready, the chiefs who were interested would send him out to teach in one of the districts, ordering the head men to furnish support and equip- ment, thus distributing teachers among the islands. A few TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 61 of the Hawaiians were taught the rudiments of Enghsh, but the main effort was to reach the islanders through their native speech. The first steps in this missionary work were even less pre- tentious than teaching primary schools or preaching short sermons in broken speech. Before all, it was neces- „ ,.^. sary to create a desire for better things. Here Conditions •; . . ,. ., . , agam the value of the missionary family was evident, with its example of a Christian home and the manners of a Christian civilization. Mr. Bingham has described a mission- ary's wife cutting and fitting a dress for the queen, who would hardly stop from her gambUng long enough to try it on, and then would reject it with a curt ''Too tight! Off with it! Do it over!" And while the poor missionary was trying to show the queen's serving-women how to make her dresses, a pet hog was burrowing in the cloth like a puppy. Such min- istry seems very humble and petty, but it was necessary if any progress was to be made, and it was undertaken without a murmur. The hardships of missionary life in those early days were cor- respondingly heavy and inevitable. At first, no house could be secured but a one-roomed hut like those of the natives ; cooking was often done outdoors. For more than a decade these men and women of culture lived in thatched houses with the very barest and simplest furniture. In the matter of food they were reduced almost to the fare of the natives. No milk could be had for several years. Such salt meats and hard bread as could be obtained from ships, with the fruits that the land afforded, were the staples of fare. Supplies were forwarded from the United States, but so long was the voyage and so slow the transfer that, as Mr. Coan once wrote: "Our news became old and our provisions stale before they reached us, while our stationery might be exhausted, our medicines ex- pended, our flour moldy and full of worms before the new supplies arrived. Many a time have we been obliged to break 62 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD up our barrel of hardened flour with an ax." Yet as they shared the native Hfe in these outward conditions, the mis- sionaries won, more quickly than otherwise they could have done, the confidence and good-will of the people to whom they had come. The arrival in 1822 of Rev. William Ellis, one of the London Missionary Society's men in the Society Islands, who hap- pened to visit Honolulu en route to the Marquesas . ^ .^ ^ group, was of immense help to the young mission. For it chanced that the foreign residents of Honolulu were then conspiring by false arguments as to the state of affairs in the Society Islands to persuade king Liholiho to banish the missionaries. The coming of Mr. Ellis and his native associates brought direct and effective denial of these charges, and swung the balance in the missionaries' favor. Moreover, the party were persuaded to remain for a year or more as helpers in the Sandwich Islands Mission, where they were the first to preach freely to the people in the Hawaiian speech. When a substantial reenforcement was made to the mission in 1823, including seven new missionaries and three more Hawaiians from the Cornwall school, it became possible to broaden the field of work. A tour of exploration was made around the large island of Hawaii and new stations were soon opened at Hilo and Puna on the eastern side and at Lahaina on Maui. Soon it became fashionable to belong to the mission school and to listen to the preaching of the missionaries. Some of the chiefs began to give genuine evidence that they were taking the truth of the gospel to heart. Keopuolani, now the wife of the governor of Maui, was in 1823 the first native to receive the seal of baptism, and Kaumualii, the banished king of Kauai, compelled to live under the eye of the king at Oahu, became a devoted friend and patron of the mission. When he died, instead of the customary carouse upon the death of a chief. Christian prayer and song marked the service in his memory. TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 63 The death of the king and queen, during an ill-starred visit to England, in 1824, proved a blessing to the missionaries. For although Liholiho countenanced and even aided . the introduction of Christianity, by his example he encouraged the coarsest vices. Upon his departure Kaahumanu became regent, and the advantage of her strong and steady character was immediately felt. Moreover, the responsibilities of office soon made her a docile pupil of the Christian teachers, and before long she committed herself openly to their instruction. The prime minister was already an outspoken supporter of the new way, and together they began to Christianize the government. Several others of the leading chiefs of both sexes, such as Kuakini and Kapiolani, of Hawaii, and Hoapili, of Maui, had also taken the Christian stand. In connection with the funeral ceremonies for Lihohho a national convention of chiefs was held, to affirm before the representative of the British government their support of the missionaries, and a strong pronouncement was made against immorality and crime. At the same time it was agreed that the young prince, the brother of the late king, should be left in the care of the missionaries to be trained for the throne, the present regency being continued. With such royal favor and leadership the work prospered and broadened. By the end of 1824 not less than fifty natives were employed as teachers on the various islands, the W k ^^^ ^^^^ pupils had already learned to read. Schools were introduced into the new district of Hilo and a church built there, the ninth erected in the first four years of the mission. When the church at Honolulu was burned the prime minister immediately ordered timber to be brought from the mountain for another building. By agree- ment of the chiefs the Sabbath was formally recognized in the land and the ten commandments adopted as the basis of gov- ernment. Laws were also passed in the interests of morality and women were forbidden to visit the ships that came to 64 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD port. By the following year more than 100 natives of both sexes, among them several chiefs of royal blood, presented themselves at Honolulu as candidates for Christian baptism. They were all carefully examined and watched before they were admitted to the church, but within a few months most of them were received. A chief feature of their Christian culture was what they called a ''tabu meeting," in effect a prayer meeting shaped to encourage and safeguard morality. Separate associations of this sort for men and women were formed in many of the stations and some of them came to have a large membership. Notwithstanding all these helps and encouragements there were still tremendous obstacles to overcome. Habits of indo- Against lence and indulgence were so ingrained in the native Mighty life that it furnished discouraging material to mold Odds into Christian character. Lapses were frequent. Although the people had adopted the ten commandments as the law of the land they found it hard to live up to them. The native helpers, even some of those trained in the United States, often disappointed the missionaries. One of the Corn- wall students, George, son of the king of Kauai, upon his father's death, in 1824, actually led an insurrection against the new order, which threatened to bring on civil war, but which was fortunately averted by his defeat and subjection. Yet when one reahzes the situation in the islands the wonder is not so much that many fell back as that any stood firm. The missionaries doubted whether there was ever a place in the world where there was so much concentrated and seducing wickedness, with so little restraint of conscience, as at the station of Honolulu. While some captains of whaleships were friendly, and men of Nantucket are particularly mentioned as having shown all kindness to the missionaries in their work, even contributing generously to the first house of worship, the majority of them were hostile and vicious. The pressure of evil was tremendous. Even one of the missionaries of the TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 65 first group to arrive, the young physician, Dr. Holman, was drawn away and left the mission to join its opponents, thus adding to the strain and burden of the rest. From the beginning of the mission the foreigners who were exploiting this weaker race objected to the presence of the Persecu- missionaries and sought to hinder them. Now they tion by undertook a more open and vigorous protest. The Foreigners gro\vth of temperance sentiment and the laws to protect womanhood were particularly obnoxious. False charges and threats were made by angry shipmasters. The most prolonged and worst outrage came from a source that was least dreaded. For the commander of the Dolphin, the first United States government ship to visit the islands, in 1826, demanded the repeal of the law against the visiting of ships by women, threatened to shoot Mr. Bingham if he inter- fered, and to tear down the houses of the missionaries unless his demand was granted. After more than a month of parley, one Sabbath a half dozen sailors from the Dolphin forced their way into the sick-room of the prime minister, where service was being held, renewing the demand. When Mr. Bingham attempted to escape to protect his house, the rioters set upon him, and had not the natives fought them off would probably have taken his life. At length, by persistently terrifying the chiefs, the commander succeeded in getting the law revoked, and from May to December Honolulu was shamelessly defiled. The corruption which ensued was a heavy injury and sorrow to the mission, but it was comforting to see how many of the natives, not only chiefs but common people, who had been identified with the missionaries, held fast to them despite every slander and artifice of their enemies. The behavior of these humble people in dealing with powerful foreigners and in protecting their Christian teachers is one of the glories of missionary history. A similar attack being made a little later at Lahaina by the crews of American and British ships, and in the absence of 66 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the governor, the faithful natives guarded Mr. Richards, while the governor's wife, Hoapiliwahine, apprehending the danger in time, called the women to follow her to a safe hiding-place in the mountains. The protest of the American Board at these out- rages resulted in a court-martial, whose findings, however, were so deferred or suppressed that the case was practically lost. In spite of these heavy adversities and the partial over- turning of the missionaries' work, progress was made. In Progress, 1826 a statement was issued from the mission Neverthe- press, signed by eight missionaries representing all l®ss the stations, which set forth some of the changes that had been wrought since their coming: that nearly all the leading persons on the islands had been taught to read and write; that drunkenness and gambling, which were formerly universal, were now limited to a comparatively small number; that the observing of the Sabbath was general; that schools had been established on the principal islands and were attended by nearly 25,000 scholars, and that some of the leaders of the nation, as well as those of lower rank, had publicly committed themselves to the faith and practise of Christianity. Follow- ing this pronouncement and in accord with its closing chal- lenge, a remarkable trial of the missionaries' case was held, in which Mr. Richards spoke for them, and the British consul in opposition, while the captain of a United States sloop of war, then in Honolulu, served as judge. The case for the opposition broke down, and Captain Jones' farewell letter, expressing his endorsement of the work of the mission, while it did not end per- secution or stop the mouths of the angry seamen, marked the beginning of a better attitude on the part of the more repu- table foreigners and the representatives of the United States. Work now went rapidly on. Schools were everywhere wel- comed; attendance of both young and old was com- th°T?^^d pulsory. In Lahaina, in 1829, half the population was in school, and at another time the same was true of all the islands. The weakness of these schools was in the TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 67 line of their strength; for, as they multipHed fast, and pupils soon became teachers, they were able to carry their scholars but little way, and, as they were not often persistent in further study, the schools soon reached their zenith of interest and power. Yet by contrast with their former condition these people seemed upHfted "more than half way to a Bacon or a Newton." The work of translation and publishing kept pace with that of the schools. As the number of those who could read in- creased, the demand for books grew also. In the first eight years of the mission's history twenty-two books were printed, of which 387,000 copies were distributed, besides many books and papers brought from the United States. The translation of the Scriptures by Mr. Richards and Mr. Bingham was pur- sued and portions appeared from time to time as they were ready. By 1828 the four Gospels had been translated and were in circulation. The acquisition of a small packet in 1827 encouraged touring among the islands, which in native boats had been desperately slow and uncomfortable work. Several tours of exploration and preaching were made from 1826 to 1828; with delight it was found that schools had in many cases preceded the mission- ary. The tours themselves sometimes became training-schools, people crowding around their visitors with note-books to take down and commit all they were taught. A deepening seriousness among the islanders was shown by increased attendance at religious services and a growing relig- First ious sense, which if somewhat superficial seemed Awaken- in the main honest. Mr. Richards on Maui reported ing, 1828 ^iiat there was scarcely an hour in the day when he did not have inquirers. In Hawaii, too, and Oahu groups were waiting at the missionary's gate in the morning; as they were received, others took their place. At Kailua the church was often filled to overflowing, the canoes drawn up on the beach, at the time of the service, making the missionaries think 68 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD of the row of carriages drawn up by the country church in the homeland. Mr. and Mrs. Ruggles had names of 2500 inquirers on their books. The characteristics of this awaken- ing were hke those famihar in more civiUzed lands: a sense of sin, the impulse to repentance, the joy of faith, the fellowship and zeal of the new communion. Those were happy and inspiring clays to the missionaries who had labored long and hard. They did not overestimate the event; they knew well the instability of the native char- acter and they were prepared for some reaction. Yet, when in the report for 1832 the question was raised, ''Are the Sand- wich Islanders a Christian nation?" they could only answer affirmatively. By all the rules usually applied, these people had grown within twelve years to be a Christian people. Chris- tianity had preceded civilization and was leading it. So strong an impression did this argument make that it was seriously proposed that further missionary efforts should be confined to the less known islands. A new mission to the Washington or Marquesas Islands was therefore undertaken in 1833, but the attempt to reach the savage and polluted cannibals of that group was soon abandoned as untimely. The death of Kaahamanu, the queen regent, in 1832, was accompanied by a general decline in the better hfe of the A Decline islands. This remarkable woman had proved her- in Religion self a pillar of strength to the Christian influences and Morals j^ her land. Naturally proud, high-spirited, and loving power, in heathen days she had been an imperious and often cruel ruler. Her unusual keenness of mind, energy, and resoluteness of will had made her since the death of her husband, the great Kamehameha, a figure of supreme importance in the land. During the decade since the death of Liholiho she had ruled with a firm and wise hand. In the early years her people feared while they respected her. As she came more under the influence of the missionaries and was softened by sickness and the responsibilities of office, her character was radically changed. TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 69 In her later years, during her tours through the islands, so impressed were the people by the sincerity of her Christian life and her sympathy for them that they called her ''the new Kaahumanu." During her regency this little nation in the South Seas was perhaps as near to a theocracy as any people since the early days of Israel. Her death following that of the prime minister left the rule to less competent and devoted hands. The crown prince, on coming into power, so inclined toward evil advisers and relaxed the government that wide- spread demoralization and disorder ensued. At the time it seemed a dark providence that thus allowed the weakening of royal support to the cause of the missionaries. Later it was judged not to be without advantage that the alliance between church and state should have been parted, in view of the danger of the church being perverted to the ends of evil and unscrupulous rulers. The unhappy effects of the change were widely felt in the falling off of schools and congregations, the desecration of the Sabbath, and the loss of devotion on the part of church members. From the missionary stand- point, in 1834, the outlook was dark indeed. The progress of the mission was thus clouded for only a little while. The American Board was persuaded that in this field, with forces so well in hand, it should be gg . possible to demonstrate the power of the gospel to evangelize in one age an entire people. With this end in view, the missionaries were called upon to survey their fields again and to estimate their needs. In 1836 there went to the islands the largest number of missionaries ever sent out at one time to any mission, thirty-two men and women. Many of this party were not ordained, but were secured as lay helpers to aid in a more rapid effort to evangelize the field. By 1837 the forces of the mission had been so enlarged that there were seventeen stations occupied, with seventeen churches and twenty-seven ordained missionaries, the total missionary force numbering sixty. 70 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD All forms of mission work were now pressed with fresh determination. The revival and improvement of schools was being accomplished through the development of higher insti- tutions; the graduates of the seminary at Lahainaluna and the other mission schools were going forth better equipped for the work of teaching. The boarding-schools on several of the islands were getting well under way — one for boys at Hilo, and another for girls, the latter opened by Mrs. Coan upon her arrival, and a larger school for girls on Maui — so that the proportion of youth under instruction was now far greater than in former times. But the schools for adults shared in the general revival of learning, and better houses and equipment were secured. In the same way new houses of worship were erected, many of them substantial buildings of stone; one at Kaulua glorying in a gallery, steeple, and bell. New lines of industry were being introduced and a marked improvement in thrift and personal appearance was manifest among the people. The missionaries began to hope that the idle habits of the race might be overcome. In the interior districts the conditions were still bare and hard. In one part of Hawaii it was reported that there were not forty families in the church whose entire wardrobe and household furniture would be worth more than $20. A canoe, a hog or two, a grass house, a few mats and calabashes, a shirt apiece and one pair of trousers for the men, one dress for each woman, rarely an ax, more often a fish-net, made up the inventory of property belonging to most of the families on that island. However, better conditions were coming to pass. For in 1839 the old order which had made the people virtually slaves The New o^ their rulers was superseded by a code of laws, Code of proclaimed by the king and his counselors, which Laws, 1839 gave to every man a true bill of rights to himself and his family, to land which he acquired, and to the avails of his own skill and industry. Real progress on a basis of TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 71 liberty and law was now possible. Where else in this old world than in these islands just out of savagery was a hered- itary despotism ever changed to a constitutional government by the voluntary action of those in power? The coming of the Coans to Hilo in 1835 marked a new era at that station. During the first half year of his mis- sionary life and before he could use the language, jj.. Mr. Coan had begun his famous tours of the district. His splendid physique enabled him to undertake such journeys as would appall most men. On one trip he crossed sixty-three ravines, one-fourth of which were from 200 to 1000 feet deep. It was often a matter of climbing with both hands and feet, over perilous places, sometimes of being let down by ropes from tree to tree, or being carried on the shoulders of a native while a company of men with locked hands stretched themselves across the torrent to prevent the danger of being carried over the falls. As each village was reached there was plenty of missionary work to be done, the weekly number of sermons being never less than six or seven and sometimes as many as twenty-five or thirty. The value of this touring was apparent as the people flocked in to Hilo to hear more of the gospel. During the years 1837-38 Hilo was crowded with strangers; the cabins of the visitors studded the plain like the camp of an army. Entire families would come in together, the aged being brought on litters, until whole villages in the country were left practically deserted. By fishing and planting taro and potatoes, this great company was able to maintain itself and found time to crowd the services in the great house of worship. It was a moving sight to the mission- ary to look down upon the sea of faces waiting for the Word. So in Hilo and in like manner elsewhere came gradually and quietly a religious awakening that soon shook the land. The Great Beginning in 1836, it reached its climax in 1838-39. Awaken- The missionaries at that time were burdened with ing, 1838-39 special longing for the conversion of the whole world. They had sent a printed appeal to the churches in the home- 72 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD land to join them in prayer and effort for this end. It reached the United States in the year 1837, in the midst of the financial panic, a time not favorable for appeals for more consecration or the expenditure of more money. Though dis- appointed at the reception of their message, the missionaries kept on praying until their reward came in the unmistakable signs of a rehgious awakening in their own field. A new spiritual life stirred in the native churches; the standard of piety was raised; inquirers and then converts began to appear. There was a new eagerness to hear the preaching of the gospel. The themes were its old familiar call to repentance and faith, and its appeal to the will. The response became tremendous. Some starthng demonstrations occurred, requiring restraint, but in the main there was little tumult and hysteria, but much heart searching, confession, and earnest seeking after God. Congregations increased until in some stations 2000, sometimes even 4000 or 5000 people assembled. The num- bers won to the Christian life were beyond all precedent. During the years 1839-41 the accessions to the eighteen churches were 22,297, and this with the greatest care in sifting candi- dates. Careful lists of converts were kept; they were assigned, visited, examined, and reexamined, enrolled in training classes, put on probation, and then held back for months and even years before they were admitted. Friends and enemies alike were called upon to testify concerning the candidates. Instead of a lack of caution, it was afterward thought that there had been an excess of caution in admitting new members. Of course there were relapses and, in some places and to an extent, reaction. Yet this great awakening Christian- ized the nation. It changed the outer as well as the inner hfe. That it did not develop Christian character to an even greater degree was perhaps due in part to the missionaries' reluctance to put much responsibility upon the young dis- ciples; so they failed to evoke a life and service corresponding to the new devotion. TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 73 The distinguished traveler, Miss Isabella Bird, in an account of her visit to Hilo and the acquaintance there made with Mr. Coan, relates, as she heard it from him, the story of the revival, and, in particular, of that first Sunday in July, 1838, when he baptized 1705 persons. The candidates were seated close together in rows, while Mr. Lyman and Mr. Coan, passing between, sprinkled every bowed head and then pronounced the formula for baptism. Afterward 2400 converts received the Holy Communion. Mr. Coan's own words picture that service: ''The old and decrepit, the lame, the blind, the maimed, the withered, the paralytic, and those aflflicted with divers diseases and torments; those with eyes, noses, lips, and limbs consumed; with features distorted, and figures depraved and loathsome; these came hobbhng upon their staves, or led and borne by others to the table of the Lord. Among the throng you would have seen the hoary priest of idolatry, with hands but recently washed from the blood of human victims, together with thieves, adulterers, highway robbers, murderers, and mothers whose hands reeked with the blood of their own children. It seemed like one of the crowds the Saviour gath- ered, and over which he pronounced the words of healing." Almost from the beginning the missionaries had been encour- aged and helped at their task by converts of rank and influence. Eminent Some of them have been already mentioned: Queen Converts Keopuolani, the subject king of Kauai, the regent Kaahumanu, and her prime minister, Kalanimoku, whose conversion overcame the pride, ambition, and baser vices of a strong savage and produced a true servant and bene- factor of his nation. A favorite heroine of the Christian conquest of the Sandwich Islands was Kapiolani, a descendant of one of the ancient Hawaiian kings, whose landed possessions sloped back from the waters of Kealakekua Bay to the woodlands of Mauna Loa. When she first came into contact with the missionaries, like the rest of her people, she was ignorant and intemperate, 74 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD and as was customary among women of her rank, the wife of two husbands — a pagan in every sense of the word. Soon she became a devoted behever in the gospel and set about conforming her hfe thereto. She renounced all gambling and drinking, gave up her younger husband, with her own hands destroyed idols, founded schools, ministered to the sick, and went about her province doing good. In her well-ordered home she entertained graciously, and even with the niceties of civilized life, not only her missionary friends, but distin- guished visitors from other lands. The one act which makes her name immortal is her visit in 1825 to Pele, the great crater of Kilauea. ReaHzing the superstition with which her people regarded this smoking mountain, while they worshiped with sacrifices the reputed god- dess supposed to dwell within its seething abyss, this high chief resolved to visit the volcano, defy the goddess and break her spell. Her husband and her people besought her not to pro- ceed. Her answer was, ''If I am destroyed, you may all believe in Pele; but if I am not, then you must all turn to the palapalaJ' When a prophetess of Pele stood in her path and warned her not to go further, she confounded the impostor by demanding proof of her prophetic gift. After the babble of unmeaning sounds was over, Kapiolani began to read from the Scriptures a message from the true God until the sup- posed prophetess was silenced. On reaching the crater she marched straight to the brink, ate of the berries consecrated to Pele, threw stones of defiance into the boiling mass, and challenged the weeping natives who had followed her to acknowledge Jehovah. Then with words of hymn and prayer the whole company worshiped the living God. The enlightened traveler who gazes upon the awful majesty of this volcano is silenced into half fear by the spec- tacle, yet this woman, scarcely four years out of paganism, stood forth superior to the horror of the place and the terror of her people and by one act broke the fetters of superstition. TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 75 Not all the witness was borne by those of high rank. Puaaiki was a bhnd dancer and buffoon in the king's train when the missionaries came to Hawaii. Only thirty-five g ,. years of age, he had almost burned his hfe out with gross vices. A pitiable figure of small frame, with haggard face, feeble limbs, half-clad and underfed, when in a fit of sickness he received some kindness from one of the Chris- tian islanders brought from America, the king's fool was won to the life of a child of God. He began to come regularly to worship, gave up his drink, and sought eagerly to learn the new way. His blindness shut him in to store in his powerful memory the words and ideas that came to him. At length Puaaiki, or Bartimeus, as he was called upon his admission to the Church, became known as a remarkable preacher. During the awakening of 1838 his heart was over- flowing with joy, and his words were as of one lifted up by the power of the Spirit, while his face shone as if it reflected some of the glory of heaven. His preltching was a wonder and delight to the missionaries, while his humility, gentleness, and loving zeal endeared him to all. The joyful scenes of the great awakening were rudely broken by the arrival of a French corvette Embuscade, whose captain Political announced that he had come to further the interests Disturb- of the Roman Catholics in the islands. This was ances, not the first attempt of the sort; Roman ecclesias- ^^42 ^ics had early tried to get a foothold in the islands, but were driven out by the king. In 1839 a French frigate arrived, whose officer claimed that France had been insulted by the rejection of the Jesuits and who demanded reparation and a new treaty showing favor to them. Issuing his ulti- matum, he threatened hostilities if prompt reply were not received. Under such stress the king yielded, the treaty was signed, indemnity paid, and the frigate sailed away with the desired concessions to the cause of French Catholics and French brandy. 76 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Now in 1842 the demand was even more curt and insulting. The king made calm reply that representatives were already on the way to France to arrange a new treaty. So critical was the state of affairs that an embassy, of which Mr. Richards was one member, was sent to Europe and to the United States with the request that the independence of the Sandwich Islands be acknowledged, with guarantee against usurpation. During the absence of the embassy, affairs were brought into still further tumult by the high-handed action of an English com- mander, who forced a cession of the islands to Great Britain in February, 1843. This seizure was short-lived, but during the months until relief came the situation was deplorable, with law and order relaxed and a carnival of lust and intemperance recalHng the early days of the mission. The king in despair gave up the attempt to rule and retired to Maui. Dr. Judd, acting in Mr. Richards' absence as recorder for the government, ren- dered great service bj^his bold and ingenious act of hiding the national records in the royal tomb. In that unsuspected spot, using Kaahumanu's coffin for a table, he made his office for several weeks, working quietly for the welfare of the country. The arrival of both United States and British warships rein- stated the king and restored order, and on July 31 the king and chief repaired to the great Stone Church at Honolulu to give thanks to God for their deliverance. Soon afterward the independence of the Hawaiian nation was formally acknowl- edged. Thus in a quarter of a century had come forth from the depth of savagery a civilized nation, an event unmatched in the history of the world. The decade following the great awakening was character- ized by fluctuations of hope and discouragement in the work A Spiral of the mission. Sometimes two missionaries writing Progress, at the same time told quite different stories. There 1840-1850 T^QYe always two sides to be observed. The Sand- wich Islander was still a difficult problem; even when he became TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 77 a Christian much of his old unstable and evasive nature clung to him. There was a deal to lament in his course; it was good that he still struggled on. The period of public disorder and poUtical agitation was not conducive to missionary work, and the growing intercourse with the civihzed world, while it brought advantages and new Hfe to the islands, brought also new temptations and actually tended to lower the moral tone of the community. Yet on the whole signs of progress were manifest in almost every direction. The social condition of the people was brighter; the islands became prosperous. With the rush to California, upon the discovery of gold, there came new markets both for the labor and products of the islands. The indus- trious could now acquire property and better homes and farms began to appear. The higher schools had become important forces in the nation's life. In the schools for girls, the sem- inary at Lahainaluna and Oahu College some of the ablest missionaries were devoting their labors to training native leaders and teachers. A school instituted in 1839 for young chiefs was soon supported by the government, and had four- teen students, two of whom have since reigned as king and one as queen. The organization of a national temperance society, the systematic cultivation of temperance sentiment through the schools, and, in particular, the signing of a total abstinence pledge in 1842 by the king and thirteen of his chiefs, brought a glorious change in one characteristic of life in the islands. It cut off in a day nine-tenths of the power which some unprin- cipled foreigners had before possessed over the king and the kingdom. The watch and care of the missionaries for the native Christians was no formal matter; they regarded their converts with the same spirit of love and yearning which Paul felt in his day. When the young men went to sea their teachers watched for their return, and inquired whether they had fallen 78 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD into the way of drink or violated other rules of morality, and, in particular, whether they had chased whales on the Lord's Day. When fifteen went from the Lahaina church in 1850 to dig for gold in California, Dr. Baldwin reported with delight that not one was known to have dishonored his profession. In more directly religious lines progress was also apparent. The translation of the Bible into Hawaiian speech was com- pleted in February, 1839, less than twenty years after the arrival of the first missionaries, and gave a new impetus to the circulation of the Scriptures. Larger things were now undertaken in the way of native contributions. The people had always been generous accord- A Self- ing to their ability. In the earher days, when they Reliant had no money they gave their labor. The people Church of Hilo brought in weekly supplies of food for the girls' school, at length setting apart a parcel of ground and appointing each '' monthly concert" day as a time to cultivate it as the school garden. In the same way they toiled to build their churches, often bringing timber for miles over country so rough that only one stick could be brought in a day by the company of from forty to eighty persons. The new church at Honolulu, in 1842, was built of stone brought from heathen temples, lime made from coral, obtained by diving to the bottom of the sea and then carried seven miles, and timbers drawn from the mountain forests. Mr. Coan's account of the drawing of lumber for the first frame church in Hilo, in 1840, gives a vivid picture of one of these building bees: ''When a large number of pieces were ready, hundreds of willing men and women, provided with ropes made of the bark of the hibiscus, with light upper garments, and with leggings of the Adam and Eve style, such as never feared mud and water, went to bring down these timbers. Arranged by a captain in two lines, with drag ropes in hand, ready to obey the command of their chosen leader, they stood waiting his order. At length comes the TRANSFORMING THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 79 command, 'Grasp the ropes; bow the head; bUster the hand; go; sweat!' And away they rush, through mud and jungle, over rocks and streams, shouting merrily, and singing to measure. Then comes the order, 'Halt, drop, drag ropes, rest!' This is repeated at longer or shorter intervals accord- ing to the state of the ground." Self-support began to be considered by 1840, when Mr. Richards proposed that the native churches should reUeve the American Board of a part of the burden of their main- tenance. The idea gained headway slowly until the church at Wailuku reported to Mr. Clark that they were ready to support their own institution. By 1850 it was seriously con- sidered that the time had come for closing the mission. The large company of missionaries and their families was now a heavy financial burden, while the missions in other lands were so urgently calling for enlargement that it was felt the Sandwich Islands should speedily provide for their own needs. When terms of closing began to be discussed, opinions differed as to whether more responsibility could be placed upon the native churches. The mission had been slow to develop in this direction, many of the missionaries thinking that the peculiar characteristics of the Sandwich Islanders were unfavor- able to their assuming any responsibility. The carrying out of the proposals was thus delayed for another decade. The suggestion that the Sandwich Islanders should them- selves maintain a mission in Micronesia was just beginning to be heard as this period closes, and was itself the best evi- dence of the progress made. What the missionary accom- plishment had been in these islands in less than a generation is emphasized by the testimony of the American consul at Honolulu in 1848. After confessing that in the United States he had been opposed to missionary effort, he declared, "I do not believe that another instance can be found where, with the same amount of means, so much good has been done to any people in so limited a period." Chapter V REENTERING BIBLE LANDS Upon William Goodell's visit to the Choctaw Indians in 1821 he was welcomed with special interest as ''expecting one day to preach the gospel at Jerusalem." From p , the beginning the American Board had its eye on the Holy Land. It seemed intolerable to its found- ers that Christianity's birthplace should be forever in the grip of Islam, or left to exhibit a form of Christianity, ancient and intrenched, but for the most part lifeless. The first attempts at missionary work were not directed particularly toward the Mohammedans nor to the Oriental Churches, but to the Jews, as in November, 1819, Pliny Fiske and Levi Parsons were sent out to labor in Palestine, with their anticipated location at Jerusalem. However, their instructions gave them ample range. From the heights of Zion they were to survey, not only the Holy Land, but sur- rounding countries, and then to put to themselves two main questions: ''What good can be done?" and "By what means?" "What can be done for the Jews? What for pagans? What for Mohammedans? What for Christians? What for the people in Palestine? What for those in Egypt, in Syria, in Persia, in Armenia, in other countries to which your inquiries may be extended?" The view before these pioneers was a challenge for the stoutest heart. The vast Turkish empire, with 2,000,000 The Land square miles of territory, then covered almost every to be Pos- land named in Bible history. Beyond Palestine sessed ^^d Syria to the north and west lay the great table- lands of Asia Minor, which Paul traversed as he followed the highways of the Roman provinces. To the east and south 80 REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 81 stretched the wild deserts of Arabia; and northward, again, Mesopotamia and Assyria to the Persian border. On the southern shore of the Mediterranean were Egypt and the African provinces; on the northern side, Greece and the Balkan provinces, then a constituent part of the empire. And in this vast territory dwelt a strange medley of races and religions. There were the Mohammedans, first of all Turks, the dominant race in the land, but including also Arabs of Syria, Arabia, and Africa, Kurds of Mesopotamia and Armenia, Druzes of the Lebanon, and a majority of the Albanians in European Turkey. Over against these Moham- medan and semi-pagan peoples, disagreeing among themselves, were a variety of Christian sects, of which the Armenians were the most numerous and potent. Other Christians in this huge body poHtic were the Greeks, found in European Turkey and in western Asia Minor, the Nestorians in the plains and mountains between Assyria and Persia, and the Jacobites, Maronites, and lesser cults of Syria and the region thereabout. In Palestine, and more or less all over the empire, in Europe as in Asia, were the Jews. Here were 40,000,000 people crowded together and yet separated by irreconcilable differences of race and religion, and embittered by years of controversy and warfare. Except in the coast cities there were scarcely any educated men; the women were uniformly illiterate. There was no Hterature, apparently no desire for it; everywhere a stagnant barbarism, under the oppressive hand of the sultan-caliph at Constan- tinople. From one end of the empire to the other there was not a missionary station permanently occupied, not even an estabhshed missionary to whom these pioneers could go for counsel or with whom they could divide the land. Making Smyrna their temporary base, Messrs. Fiske and Par- Spying it sons began their language studies. At length, after Out, 1820 a tour through Asia Minor visiting the seats of the seven churches and consulting as to the best methods of 82 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD approach, they decided that Parsons should go at once to Jerusalem, where in 1821 he took up his residence near the Holy Sepulchre, attempting particularly to reach the multitudes of pilgrims coming to the city. But Jerusalem was not a hospitable place for a mission station. The outbreak of the Greek revolution presently compelled a retreat to Smyrna. Attempting to return to Jerusalem the next year, Parsons died on the way at Alexandria. His place was promptly taken by Rev. Jonas King, who gave up a prospective professorship at Amherst College for temporary service in the emergency. Upon his joining Mr. Fiske at Malta, a caravan of seventy- four persons, Arabs, Turks, Greeks, and Armenians, under the lead of these two missionaries, set out for Jerusalem by way of Alexandria, Cairo, and the desert, distributing Bibles and tracts at. villages along the Nile. Two busy years were spent in the endeavor to get a foot- hold in Jerusalem. Tours through Syria and Palestine promoted acquaintance with the land and with its people. Careful inquiries and observations were made, to be set down in journals and reported to officers of the Board, as to the pros- pects of a Palestine mission and the claims of different loca- tions. Such centers were visited as Jaffa, Beirut, Hebron, Damascus, and Aleppo, the study of languages meanwhile going on, Mr. Fiske working chiefly with Italian and modern Greek and Mr. King with Arabic. The disturbed state of the country led to withdrawal from Jerusalem to Beirut in the spring of 1825. Mr. King's term of service expiring in August of that year, he wrote a farewell letter to his acquaintances in the land, which was really an argument for the evangelical faith, and, as translated into Arabic and Armenian, exerted an important influence in the evangelization of Turkey. On his way to the homeland, he learned of the death of his associate at Beirut. The missionary quahfications of Phny Fiske were of the finest type, and his loss was an inexpficable calamity to the new enterprise REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 83 in Palestine. By such stern necessity the station at Jerusalem was again closed. A final effort to reopen it some nine years later, though tenaciously made, was at length relinquished, Dr. Joel Hawes, who with Secretary Anderson visited the city in 1844, rendering judgment that Jerusalem bore such a resem- blance to the contents of the sheet which Peter saw let down from heaven by its four corners that it appeared an especially disadvantageous place for any missionary work. The field which Parsons and Fiske had entered was not to be abandoned. Rev. William Goodell and Rev. Isaac Bird, The with their wives, had arrived at Beirut on Novem- Syrian ber 16, 1823, just before Mr. Fiske had made his Mission last visit to Jerusalem, and they were well settled at the station before he returned to it to die. The disturbed conditions in Jerusalem decided them to locate at Beirut at least for a time. This busy seaport, with healthful mountains close by and a friendly English consul at hand, was soon recog- nized as the most promising center for a permanent establish- ment. The mixture of races and religions there to be reached is indicated by the amazing variety of languages employed. The Scriptures were daily read in Arabic and Greek, ancient and modern, as well as in Turkish, Armenian, Italian, and English, while in the table talk most of these tongues were heard. In Bible translation, versions of the Scriptures in all these languages were used, besides those in Hebrew, Syriac, and French. Among the daily callers at the missionaries' house were likely to be Arabs, Turks, Jews, and Maronites, with all varieties of dialect. Work opened speedily. Visitors were disposed to receive the Scriptures and religious tracts. Soon schools were started, beginning with one where six Arab children were taught by the missionaries' wives; in 1827 thirteen free schools were to be found in the city and vicinity, with 600 pupils, more than 100 of them girls. Opposition was aroused almost at once. Starting among 84 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the Roman Catholics rather than among the Turks or Arme- nians, it was directed particularly against the schools and printing press. To the influence of Rome, working through its priests, was added that of French and Russian officials, scheming to crush out missionary efforts. With such ecclesi- astical interference and the political disturbance of the Greek revolution in 1826, the situation appeared alarming enough. The landing of Greek troops in the city brought on a reign of terror, the wild Bedouins sent to drive out the invaders proving even more injurious than the foe. In the general lawlessness Mr. Goodell's house was plundered, though restitution was afterward made. A strange providence in the event was that the invasion caused the flight from the city of the Maronite bishop who had come down from his mountain monastery to compel his people to drive out the missionaries, threatening to excommunicate anyone who should rent a house to them. His departure left the braver missionaries in possession of the field. In spite of opposition, advance was made and converts won. Some of these converts were notable characters like the two Armenian ecclesiastics, Gregory Wortabet and Garabed Dio- nysius. These men, who had been secured by the missionaries as language teachers, under the influence of this association and of Bible study, were won to the evangelical faith, becoming not only shining examples of its power, but effective preachers of its truth. A still more remarkable conquest was that of Asaad es Shi- diak, a Maronite scholar and theologian, who had been in the employ of bishops, Arab sheiks, and princes, and finally of the patriarch, and who, in endeavoring to controvert the mission- aries' teaching, was led to accept it. Applying for employment, he was at first put off, from suspicion of his motive. Received at length, he became a trusted and efficient helper of the mis- sionaries until, ensnared by the patriarch, he was imprisoned, beaten, and subjected to all kinds of cruelty and trial; loaded REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 85 with chains, he was walled into a filthy prison, and fed, through a hole, on the scantiest fare, until, with faith still unshaken, death at last relieved him of his suffering, and his body was thrown down a mountain-side among the jagged rocks. Other converts endured similar persecution. Yet new ones appeared, until, when Eh Smith reached Beirut, in 1827, six- teen persons were numbered in the mission church, gathered from nine different communions and almost as many races. As hostility increased and reached even to the missionaries, and as the battle of Navarino made the whole land feverish and the situation dangerous, the British consulate at Beirut was closed, and it was felt necessary to suspend the mission for a while. In May, 1828, the missionaries embarked for Malta, taking with them their language teachers. How critical the situation had been appears in a remark of Mr. Goodell that during the last two years of the stay at Beirut he had seldom closed his eyes for sleep without first thinking over ways and means of escape, if his enemies should come in the night; while on his walks abroad he had been continually looking for bushes and caves where the persecuted might seek refuge in the hour of danger. For months before leaving he had many of his goods packed, ready for flight, and with money so placed that, if hurried to prison, he would not go penniless.^ The assembling of so many missionaries at Malta increased the activity of the printing estabUshment. Malta had been The Print- taken as the headquarters for this department of ing House work, not of choice, but because when Rev. Daniel at Malta Temple, in 1822, brought to that part of the Mediter- ranean the first press and font of type ever seen there, it was judged unsafe to take them beyond the protection of the British flag. By 1826 a trained printer was in charge, with an equip- ment of three presses and fonts of type in seven languages, though most of the printing was done in but three, ItaHan, modern Greek, and Armeno-Turkish. ^ The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 98. 86 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD The New Testament in the last-named language was soon issued under the auspices of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Within a decade the presses had turned out 350,000 volumes; in all, 21,000,000 pages of printed matter, and tracts, papers, and schoolbooks were being widely scattered through Turkey and Greece. Many of these tracts and books were translations of pious writings, reflecting the religious ideals of the time in the homeland and written without knowledge of the people among whom they were now circulated. The titles of some of these volumes seem ludicrously inappropriate. Yet it is to be recognized that, on the whole, this literature did accomplish remarkable results. It was a copy of The Dairy- man's Daughter, a favorite devotional work of those days in America, that first roused Nicomedia to the message of the missionary and brought the religious awakening there. While in the review of work in the Syrian Mission it could not be found that there had been a single instance of radical conversion unto God where there had been no intercourse with the missionary, but only the reading of the printed word, yet the judgment was decisive that the printing press was to be put above all other agencies as opening the eyes of the people in Turkey to evangelical Christianity. In the fields of education and reform, of social betterment and pohtical awakening, as well as in distinctively religious culture, the work of missionary pubhcation which began at Malta has had an immense influence in all the lands through which its output has flowed. By 1833 pohtical conditions had so improved in the Levant that the press could be brought nearer to the center of mis- Transfer sionary operations. The Arabic equipment was of the then taken to Beirut, already reopened, which Presses thereupon became the headquarters for the Syrian publications, while the Greek, Turkish, and Armenian equip- ment was transferred to Smyrna, where some years before (1826) the Board had located two missionaries. Rev. Elnathan REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 87 Gridley and Rev. Josiah Brewer, the former intending to work particularly for Greeks, the latter for Jews. Smyrna thus became the first established center of missionary opera- tions strictly in Turkey, and that which had been called the Palestine Mission was now more properly named the Western Asia Mission. The bringing of the press to Smyrna resulted in a more intense opposition to its work. Here, too, the Roman Catho- lics were the fiercest opponents, the Mohammedans being fairl}^ tolerant of the press as of all efforts of the American missionaries, partly because they knew so Httle about America as not to feel the significance of the mission, and partly because they had so great confidence in Islam that they cared less what the missionaries might do. But at Smyrna a new source of opposition was aroused in the Armenians, who were astounded to find their former bishop, Dionysius, now an expounder of the new faith. A lively sympathy for the Greeks in their struggle for inde- pendence had been awakened in America. In particular, the Reaching missionaries at Malta became interested in some the Greek youth who took refuge there, and who were Greeks g^nt to America to be educated at the expense of the Board, for work among their own people. Several of the number did afterward serve the interests of missions in their own land; one of them became famous as Professor Sophocles of Harvard University. In 1830, after investigation and con- ference with Greek leaders by Secretary Anderson, the Board began a mission for Greeks in Athens, then just evacuated by the Turks, putting in charge of it Rev. Jonas King, who had now returned to the Levant to enter upon a remarkable career in Greece. Soon a school was started, on the Lancastrian plan, in those days so commonly used by the Board. Rev. Elias Riggs and other missionaries followed, and new stations were opened, both on the mainland and on islands of the ^gean Sea and on Cyprus. 88 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD But as the Greeks realized their independence they became unfriendly to missionary work, and by intrigue, slander, and even open conflict piled obstacles in the path of the mission- aries. Absurd stories were circulated which roused the super- stitious fear of the people. Riots began to break out, and schools had to be closed. A gradual withdrawal from stations followed, until, by 1842, Dr. King and one associate at Athens were the only remaining members of the mission to Greece. Mr. Riggs had gone to Asia Minor, where he was to be asso- ciated with such men as Temple, Schneider, Van Lennep, and Ladd in work for the Greeks in Turkey, which was vigorously pressed both at Smyrna and Broosa.^ Secretary Anderson's visit in 1829 had further purpose than to locate the mission to Greece. In view of the closing of the Relocating Grseco-Turkish war and the possibihties of freer Fields in and broader fields, he was to study the whole situa- Turkey, tion looking toward new locations. As a part of 1829 ^Yim inquiry, Mr. Bird explored the north coast of Africa, interrogating Jews, Moslems, Roman Catholics, and men without religious connection, with a view to possible open- ings at Tripoh and Tunis, but without favorable result. The outlook in Turkey, however, was found to be brighter. Mr. Bird was sent to resume the mission at Beirut and Mr. Goodell to open a station at Constantinople, while Eli Smith, with Har- rison Gray Otis Dwight, who had just arrived as a new appointee, was designated to explore the eastern parts of the Turkish empire. This broadening of plan and reassignment of workers mark a new stage in the history of the Turkish missions. It has been already apparent that the American Board did not plant its missions without careful investigation. An enor- TheTourof nious amount of exploring hes back of the choice Smith and of fields and even the determining of stations. Dwight, The pioneers were prospectors and faithfully ^^30 scanned their territory. Yet the journey of Smith and Dwight, both in the boldness and extent of its under- 1 The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 101. REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 89 taking and in its results, is conspicuous in the long list of the Board's explorations. Leaving Constantinople in May, 1830, the travelers took the road in oriental fashion, with camp equipment reduced to what one packhorse could carry, a strip of carpet for a bed, a fur-lined pehsse for a wrap, a few cooking utensils, and a round mat of leather which would serve for a table when they halted and for a bag in which to carry their bread and cheese when they traveled. To escape attention, if not trouble, they wore oriental robes and turbans and enormous Tartar stockings and boots. For protection they had the needful firmans, pass- ports, and letters of introduction, and their guide, a Tartar chief, signed and sealed a contract before an official by which he became responsible for their persons and property, thus making his government a sort of accident insurance company. Their route was the customary highway from Constantinople to Persia. They passed through Tokat, where they visited Henry Martyn's grave, Erzroom, Kars, and Tiflis, rested with kindly German missionaries at Shoosha, and pushed on through Nestorian country to Tabriz, where another sojourn was neces- sary for Mr. Smith's recuperation from illness. From Tabriz they toured somewhat through Persia, acquainting themselves with the land, and in particular with the Nestorian people. Their return journey brought them to Constantinople after an absence of a yekr and a quarter, to reveal in the narrative of their trip. Christian Researches in Armenia, a wealth of information concerning the races, peoples, and religions of the region they had visited, so accurate and full as to be prac- tically authoritative to-day. Before leaving for their long tour, Messrs. Smith and Dwight had earnestly recommended that Constantinople should be Constant!- made a station of the American Board. They nople at returned to find Mr. Goodell already established ^^^* there and work among the Armenians definitely begun. So strategic is this capital for any enterprise within 90 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the Turkish empire that it seems strange the American Board should have come to it by so roundabout a route. Then as now the great highways between East and West passed through that city. All the races and religious communities within the Turkish empire looked to their representatives in Constanti- nople for the protection of their rights. Moreover, the prestige of the sultan as padishah (father of all the sovereigns of the earth) and caliph of Islam made him a mighty figure beyond the boundaries of his empire. It was inevitable that the Board should settle at length upon Constantinople as its base for the Turkish missions. In William Goodell the right man was found to open this important station. With breadth of vision, deep spiritual life, sympathy, courage, bubbling humor, and patient devotion, disciplined by his experience at Beirut and Malta, he was remarkably fitted for the delicate and difficult task of laying foundations at the capital. Associated with him almost from the beginning and for more than a generation were Dr. Dwight, assigned to this post upon return from his tour, and Will- iam Schauffier, whose special task was to reach the Spanish Jews who, upon their expulsion from Spain, had crowded into Constantinople more of their race than were then in any other city of the world. At its beginning the new station suffered a baptism of fire. Within two months of Goodell's arrival, his home and all its furnishings went up in flames. Though fires were continually recurring, five threatening in a single year, other dangers even more serious were felt. In 1832 the black plague broke out, followed by cholera, with which Mr. Goodell was shghtly attacked. The plague was almost constant in the city, com- pelUng the frequent closing of schools and cutting off com- munication with the people; Mrs. Dwight and her child died of it in 1837. The seclusion of these times gave the mission- aries opportunity to pursue their language studies and to prepare new material for publication. REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 91 Missionary work among the Armenians was begun quietly and carefully. The investigations of Smith and Dwight had Beginning shown that they were one of the great and virile among the races of Turkey. Industrious, temperate, thrifty, Armenians ^]^q bankers of the empire, furnishing in large meas- ure the strength of its commercial and industrial classes, the Armenians were also a religious people, strict in the observance of the forms of their national Church. Won to Christianity in the fourth century by St. Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenians named their branch of the Church after the famous preacher. Regarding the word of Scripture with almost super- stitious reverence, and in doctrine closely allied with eastern Christianity, this Gregorian Church yet separated from the Greek Church after the council of Chalcedon, whose decisions it rejected. It was estimated that 100,000 of these Armenians were then located in Constantinople. The missionaries discovered that there were already signs of an awakening in the Gregorian Church; reformers and relig- ious enthusiasts had striven to break through its formalism. The British and Foreign Bible Society had put the Scriptures within the reach of the more educated classes in the ancient Armenian tongue, and had just brought out the New Testa- ment in the vernacular, making it available for all to read. Dr. King's letter on leaving Syria had made a deep impression upon some prominent Armenians in Constantinople, to whom it had been sent, and, in the hope of purifying the Church, a new training-school for priests had been organized by the scholarly and devout leader, Peshtimaljian. Although he did not venture openly to ally himself with the missionaries, this remarkable man privately encouraged his pupils to come in contact with them and by all the force of his own evangeUc temper sought to inspire a new type of priests for the ancient Church. With such preparation and encouragement, the beginning of work in Constantinople was a far different matter from what 92 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD it had been in Syria. Even the Armenian patriarch, inter- viewed by Mr. Goodell concerning a better grade of schools, responded, with oriental courtesy, that if his visitor had not come to him, he must certainly have gone to see Mr. Goodell! The purpose was not to proselyte the Armenians. At first, the missionaries established no schools, but sought to encourage and aid this people in starting its own schools. Likewise at first, they held no pubhc services, conducting worship only for their famiHes and other English-speaking Christians in the city. They attended services in both Gregorian and Greek churches, often taking part at the invitation of those in author- ity. Their evangelizing efforts were thus confined to such personal interviews as they might have with those who called upon them or whom they might meet as they went here and there. ''We tell them frankly," said Mr. Goodell, '' ' You have sects enough among you already, and we have no design of setting up a new one, or of pulling down your churches, or drawing away members from them in order to build up our own.'" As helpers, never as antagonists, the missionaries of the American Board went to meet the Armenian people and their Church. Results began to appear so early as 1833, when some earnest- minded students accepted the evangefical faith. Opposition was aroused when inquirers and visitors increased. ^"^^ . In that year fifteen priests trained in Peshtimal- jian's school were ordained in the old Church. These men had caught the new vision and went to their ministry with a new spirit. Later they cast in their lot with the Evan- geHcals, as those came to be called who were reading the New Testament and living by its message, in the face of ecclesias- tical disapproval. Soon an Evangelical Union was organized of those who were seeking to reform the Gregorian Church and a secret correspondence was begun with men of influence through- out the empire. At this time the sole aim of the EvangeHcals was to redeem their Church to a more vital rehgion. REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 93 The movement spread from Constantinople to other centers. Schools were established, notably one for girls at Smyrna. As new missionaries arrived, new stations were opened. Ben- jamin Schneider began his career at Broosa, the ancient capital of the Ottoman empire, in 1834; Trebizond was occupied on the shore of the Black Sea. By this time, too, the awakening had begun in Nicomedia, where Mr. Goodell, passing through the city a few years before, had left some tracts, among them a copy of The Dairyman's Daughter. As the evangehcal influence began to be felt in the land, the spirit of persecution was roused in the Gregorian Church. Persecution Sporadic cases of opposition culminated in 1839 in Begins, an outbreak of vigorous persecution. The higher ^^39 clergy had become frightened. As priests they dreaded to lose any of their power over the people; as politi- cians they were suspicious of a movement which might dis- integrate the ancient Church, now the only bond of the Armenian race. The tolerant patriarch was replaced; a hst of those suspected of heresy was said to contain the names of 500 prominent persons, bishops, priests, and bankers. Arrests were made and terror spread. Repeated pronouncements by both Greek and Armenian ecclesiastics denounced the missionaries as '^Satanic heresiarchs from the caverns of hell and the abyss of the northern ocean." Schools were broken up; the press was silenced; books were burned in bonfires upon city squares. A systematic effort to expel the missionaries was likely to have succeeded had not war broken out between the pasha of Egypt and the sultan, which terminated in the defeat and death of the latter, and stayed the persecution.^ The tour of Smith and Dwight had brought to light another people, the Nestorians of Persia and the highlands of Kur- distan. Deriving its name from a patriarch of Constanti- nople deposed as a heretic in the fifth century, this ancient sect of the Christian Church was at first full of missionary * The narrative of this mission ia resumed on page 102. 94 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD spirit; it carried the gospel not only to Persia and Assyria, but even into India and China. Conquered at length by TheNesto- ^^^ sword of Tamerlane, the Nestorians had been rian Mis- reduced in numbers and broken in spirit; still sion, 1834 Christian in name, rejecting all images and the confessional, regarding with superstitious reverence the word of Scripture, liberal toward other sects, they had yet become formal in their religious observance and so ignorant and de- graded mentally and morally that they were practically a dead church in the midst of an oppressive Mohammedanism. But when the first missionaries to be sent them, Rev. and Mrs. Justin Perkins, arrived in 1833, after nearly a year's journey so arduous that they reached Tabriz more dead than alive, they received an inspiring welcome among this people. The first Nestorian with whom Mr. Perkins shook hands was the bishop, Mar Yohannan, evermore a fast friend of the mis- sion. When the patriarch in the mountains was visited he greeted the missionaries with the words: "Thanks be to God. This is what I have been praying for." Tours of the villages were like triumphs, the Nestorians flocking out in welcome, sometimes with drums and trumpets. Nowhere else in all these lands of the Bible were the missionaries received with such simple-hearted and eager trust. The city of Urumia, in the province and by the lake of the same name, was chosen as the first station for the Perkinses and Dr. and Mrs. Asahel Grant, who joined them Z~^ the first year. Here, with the help of Nestorian priests who were ready to be associated with them, Mar Yohannan himself acting as their language teacher, they set themselves to form a written language, translate parts of the Scriptures and make the customary beginnings. Dr. Grant's skill as a physician was of utmost importance in winning the favor of the people, and he was at once beset by patients of all races and rehgions. Many came from long distances to carry back tidings of the new arrivals. Kurdish REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 95 chiefs, princes and governors of provinces, and Persian nobles came with the humblest to kiss his feet and to seek his help. The first attempt to bring in a printing estabhshment in 1837 failed because of the insurmountable difficulties of the overland route. But two years later a press so made that it could be taken to pieces and carried in parts was secured, and with the arrival of a printer, the mission was prepared to scatter its message widely and to meet the increasing attacks of the Jesuits. The missionaries to the Nestorians had received the same instructions as did those sent to the Armenians: there was to be no attempt to proselyte, only an effort to help this enfeebled church to take once more a commanding place in the regenera- tion of Asia. At once native helpers became available and opportunities for reaching the people were practically unlim- ited. In a few years the mission was in full operation. As the missionaries went among the villages they were appalled at the degradation of this ancient people. Their poverty made their homes little better than the abodes of beasts; indeed, their animals shared these quarters. The devotion of the missionaries was sorely tested in the neces- sary contact with filth and corruption. It was under the appeal of this poverty that at first all costs of the work were met by the mission, allowances even being made to scholars for support, while the native teachers were paid from the mission treasury. The early death of Mrs. Grant, just as a good beginning had been made in her work for girls, was bitterly lamented of The all. Thereafter Dr. Grant gave himself particularly Mountain to missionary exploration among the Nestorians on Nestorians ^]^g ^^st side of the Kurdish mountains, a task for which his fearlessness, tact, energy, and resourcefulness spe- cially qualified him. So from 1839 to 1845 he was chiefly occupied near the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, visiting cities where afterward stations were estab- 96 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD lished. With his far vision he desired to have the undertaking called by no racial name, but rather to be known as a mission to Assyria and Mesopotamia. The stories of his tours are full of adventure and romance. Whether facing winter storms on the mountains, avoiding brigandsj meeting warlike chiefs, or visiting disturbed cities across the border, this dauntless man was in almost constant danger. When he and Mr. Homes went to Mardin for refuge in the tumultuous days following the Egyptian war, they barely escaped alive, as a mob closed the city gates, only to find that they had barred out the very men they had meant to shut in for slaughter. Mr. Homes thereupon withdrew to Constantinople, but Dr. Grant declared that the voice that called his friend back seemed to cry to him, ''On to the moun- tains!" And he went on to new experiences in those frowning fastnesses, to be welcomed by mountaineers, and received by the patriarch. Mar Shimon, and even summoned by the emir of the Hakary Kurds to attend him in illness. Conducted through dark passageways guarded by iron doors and ghstening with guns, spears, and daggers, he was entirely at the mercy of this high-handed chieftain by whose orders a German mission- ary had lately been put to death. Undismayed, he went on; the emir recovered and ever after showed his gratitude to the fearless doctor. Yet to the end his task was a hard and lonely one. When reenforcements were sent, either pohtical or ecclesiastical inter- ference barred them out. But for a long while, amid the tumult of the time, he was able to go his way, meeting all classes and races in the mountains, Nestorians, Armenians, Yezedees, and Jacobites, and trusted and welcomed of all. Single-handed he tried to hold his ground in the advancing tempest of war. At last, when the slaughter of Nestorians by the Kurds devastated the whole mountain district, Dr. Grant was compelled to flee, until, in the midst of the catas- trophe, he was released from his troubles. Dr. Azariah Smith REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 97 and Mr. Laurie, prevented from joining him before, reached Mosul in time to witness his departure from this hfe. The western branch of the Nestorian mission was then of necessity discontinued. If the work of Grant seemed to have little immediate accomplishment, his figure stands like that of Livingstone in Africa, a great pioneer and pathfinder, open- ing up to knowledge and interest, and at length to influence, an important region of human need. While the effort in the mountains was thus checked, the work on the plains was advancing rapidly. On a furlough which Mr. and Mrs. Perkins enjoyed in the home- . ^°^^®^ . land, they were accompanied, through his own determination, by Mar Yohannan, whose presence in the United States made great impression upon the friends of missions and awoke new interest in his people. The return to the field was marked by a more evident progress. So far, results had seemed few and slow in coming. In the first eight years not more than four converts had been won. Sickness, suf- fering, and death had sadly depleted the mission forces. The sit- uation now, however, was ready for advance; all the machinery of mission work was in operation and a warmer type of evan- gelical teaching marked the life of the Nestorian churches. The influence of Miss Fidelia Fiske, who had come from her post in Mount Holj^oke to take charge of the seminary for girls at Urumia, soon to be called the Mount Holyoke of Persia, and of Mr. Stoddard, whom Mr. Perkins had seized upon as the desired helper for the boys' boarding-school, and whose presence in the churches in America has been likened to that of a flaming seraph, brought to the melting point the slowly yielding formalism of Nestorian religious life. Despite dis- turbance and interference from priests and politicians, and the efforts of the patriarch, who now set himself openly against the mission and its schools, soon there were seen the glad signs of religious interest. They appeared first in 1846 in the little village of Geog Tapa, which became suddenly bright 98 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD with spiritual light; then the new power was manifest in the school, whence it reached out to parents and friends of the students. The father of one of the girls, coming to visit his daughter, ridiculed the signs of religious interest, but soon him- self became a Christian, and later an evangelist, traveling through the mountains, ^' in his huge turban, striped jacket, and Turkish trousers, with his Bible and knapsack, telling of Christ." The effect of this revival and of another which came two years afterward was measured not only by the number of converts that could be counted, but by the changed aspect of villages on the plains and even in the mountains. From these revivals devoted and efficient Nestorian Christians arose to become remarkable preachers and witnesses for Christ. Persecution continued and even strengthened under the lead of the patriarch. At length the government interfered and, despite bitter opposition, in 1851 issued an edict of toleration, which, like that of the Turkish sultan, a year previous, gave protection alike to all Christian subjects. After two years' sojourn in Malta the missionaries were able to return to Syria. Scarcely had they begun again at Beirut, The gathering up the broken threads and finding a wel- Return to come from some faithful converts and renewed opposi- Syria, 1830 tion from the Maronites, when an outbreak of plague (See p. 85) ^^^ cholera, followed by the disturbance of the Egyptian war, once more interrupted the work of the mission. How bitter was the Maronite opposition appears in the formal curse which the patriarch uttered against the missionaries at this time, as he warned the people against them: "They are therefore accursed, cut off from all Christian communion; and let the curse envelop them as a robe and spread through all their members like oil, break them in pieces like a potter's vessel and wither them like the fig tree cursed by the mouth of the Lord himself; let the evil angel rule over them by day and by night, asleep and awake, and in whatever circumstances they may be found. We permit no one to visit them, or employ REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 99 them, or do them a favor, or give them a salutation, or con- verse with them in any form or manner, but let them be avoided as a putrid member and as helhsh dragons." When the block- ade of Beirut by the Anglo-French fleet began, the missionaries were again forced to flee, this time to Cyprus. The Turkish government soon being restored by the western powers, mis- sionary work was resumed under quieter conditions. Progress was at first very slow; it seemed that little impres- sion had been made on the masses. Persecution from eccle- siastical leaders and political disorder in the mountains were a constant hindrance. Yet advance was made, particularly in the matter of schools. By 1835 ten schools were counted, with 300 pupils. Besides those of elementary character, there was the beginning of a boys' seminary, which later removed to Abeih. At the same time a girls' school had been opened at Beirut, the first of its kind in all Syria, where at that time it was said there was not one girl who could read. Among the missionary reenforcements of the period were such men as EH Smith, C. V. A. Van Dyck, Wilham M. Thomson, and Simeon Calhoun. The securing of a new printing press, and, by the skill of Dr. Smith, the preparation of elegant fonts of type whifjh caught the eye of Arabic scholars, marked a new stage in the publication department of this mission. And the life-long service of Drs. Smith and Van Dyck was begun in the translating and preparing of those books which were to make the Beirut mission press famous and influential through all its territory. Tours of investigation were now made in the Hauran, east of the Jordan, the message of the gospel thus being carried to new peoples, notably to the Bedouin Arabs. It looked for a time as if that small but powerful people of TheDruzes the mountains, the Druzes, Mohammedan in name, of the but scarcely more than pagan in fact, would come Lebanon Qygj. ^q Christianity en masse. Overtures were made by them about 1835, during the disturbance of the Egyptian 100 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD war. The missionaries feeling somewhat doubtful about such wholesale proposals applied their usual cautious tests of con- verts. At length it appeared that the real desire of the Druzes was to escape military service on the ground of being Chris- tians; when the sincerity of their motive was tested, their zeal for changing their religion slackened, until only one Druze could be found who, with wife and family, stood the test and was baptized into the Christian faith. While the Druzes, whom the Maronites forever prejudiced against their form of Christianity, still were inclined to ally themselves with the Protestants, the Turkish sultan marched an army into the Lebanon, with Moslem teachers and sheiks in its train, and compelled the Druzes to declare themselves unflinchingly Moslem. So all attempts to Christianize this people came for a time to an abrupt close. A visit from Secretary Anderson and Dr. Hawes in 1844, in the course of their deputation tour of the Levant, brought Seeing fresh inspiration to the missionaries and set them Results at to greater efforts for the harassed people of Syria. Last Increased emphasis was now put upon the organ- izing of groups of converts into churches, and the laying of responsibility upon them. It was resolved also that the absorbing work of school and press must not crowd out those tours which increased the acquaintance and influence of the missionaries among the outlying peoples not yet enough inter- ested to come to them. What brought special cheer at this time was the appearance at last of a general religious awakening. It came in the vil- lage of Hasbeiya, at the foot of Mount Hermon, a place of about 5000 inhabitants, a mixture of Druzes, Greeks, Moslems, and Jews. A company seceding from the Greek Church because of discontent with its unworthy ministry applied to the missionaries at Beirut for instruction. When the missionaries visited Hasbeiya they were amazed to find how genuine and deep was the reformation. At length, after REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 101 careful examination and training, on a Sabbath in July, 1844, sixty-eight of these people entered into solemn covenant, binding themselves Avith hand on the Bible to hve and worship in accord with the evangelical faith. The missionaries were almost overcome with the spectacle and with all it seemed to promise. In other places, families, singly or in groups, and sometimes whole villages showed a disposition to break with the formahsm of their ancient Church. Persecution, which had been sharp before, now was redoubled. At Has- beiya some were obUged to flee for their lives; some yielded to the demands of the patriarch. But many held fast and the reformation was estabhshed. A new war breaking out between Druzes and Maronites in 1845, the mountains were filled with bloodshed and terror. Once more the Druzes, far fewer in number, defeated their hereditary foe. The sky was cleared for the Protestants at Hasbeiya, whose persecutors were driven out. The mission- aries used the opportunity of this war to render service to the combatants impartially, and won the respect and good-will of both factions. At the close of the war, work was resumed and schools strengthened at the principal stations. New stations were projected, new missionaries eagerly called for. Protestants were now better protected, and in spite of the bull of excommunication from the Greek patriarch, persecu- tion largely subsided. In 1848 it was possible to organize the first purely native church at Beirut. Two years later, one was formed at Hasbeiya. The missionaries had begun to see the results of their labors. The Board's mission in Greece, after 1842, for the rest of this period, and, indeed, for the remainder of his life was limited Dr. King to Dr. King's ministry in Athens. His figure, as in Greece with his devoted wife he stood alone for the evan- (See p. 88) gelical faith in the proud capital of Greece, is pecul- iarly appealing. So able of mind that he could outstrip the Greek ecclesiastics in argument and silence them by the apt- 102 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ness of his quotations from the Fathers, he was at the same time calm of temper to meet every threat, tactful in method to avoid trouble so far as possible, unflinching in the maintenance of his rights and patient in waiting for his opportunity. He was almost continuously assailed with charges and threats, led before the courts on one pretext or another, his case being carried from court to court, while plots of crafty ecclesiastics and the anger of sudden mobs endangered his life. Through all he was absolutely fearless, yet cautious, seeming to know just when to venture forth and when to abide in his house, when to open it for a service and when to withdraw from it into temporary hiding. After an escape from legal attack or personal violence, he would go again into the city, talking freely of religion to all whom he met, exchanging greetings even with priests on the street. With this combination of courageous defiance and conciliatory submission, he would at one time claim his rights against the governor of Attica to the same religious privileges as were enjoyed hy the Roman Cath- olics, and at another withdraw from the country, upon a hint from the king of Greece that he could relieve the situation by 'taking a journey." From such a temporary absence he had just returned (1848) as this period ends to meet new dangers and trials in the years afterward. Upon the close of the Egyptian war, with a new sultan upon the throne and the more tolerant patriarch, Stephan, returned -,, to office, there was for a time some respite of per- Armenian secution for the Armenians. And now it became Reforma- apparent how the evangelical revival had grown tion, 1840- even through the efforts to suppress it. It was S° soon found that the evangehcal message had been ^^ ^" carried far into the interior, the fire of it not having been beaten out, but only scattered to ignite new places. A station was opened in 1840 at Erzroom to the east; others nearer to Constantinople were begun at Nicomedia and Adabazar. A native mission was started in the interior of REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 103 Asia Minor. Prayer meetings and preaching services for women, first held at Pera, were maintained, and lay brethren as well as missionaries were traveling here and there, preach- ing the gospel. It was clear to all that there was a power- ful and wide evangelical awakening among the Armenian people. Yet, through all, the work was associated with the ancient Church; the Evangelicals were still a part of it. The reform was being wrought from within. The change in the attitude of the Armenian community and the development of its spiritual life were apparent; even the vartabeds, the celibate preaching clergy of the Gregorian Church, were declaring the gospel message with earnestness and power. The work of the mis- sionaries was still largely the training and encouragement of new leaders in the old Church. To this end the press was busy. Mr. Goodell's translation of the Old Testament into Armeno-Turkish and his revision of the New Testament now appeared. Armenian and Greek magazines and papers as well as books were helping to spread evangelical teaching. Theological training was begun by Mr. Dwight, and the sem- inary at Bebek was enlarged and broadened as to its courses. This famous school at Bebek, above Constantinople on the European side of the Bosphorus, had been opened in 1840 by Cyrus Hamlin, who had just come to the mission, and who sought to make of it a boarding-school for boys and young men. The marvelous ability of this new missionary was shown in the energy and skill with which he built, almost out of nothing, in the face of determined opposition and under the very eyes of the Porte, this training-school of leaders for the new era. The story of how he planned the school, over- came difficulties, readjusted it to changed circumstances, and through it brought a host of things to pass, reads like a romance. His most famous activities fall in the next period, but in the years of beginning Hamlin showed those qualities which made him the terror of the evasive Turk, the idol of the people whom 104 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD he served, and the admiration even of his more conservative colleagues. The mission to the Armenians was now thoroughly organ- ized and at work. A long conference was had with Secretary Anderson and Dr. Hawes on their deputation visit, in which it was determined that the Greek department should be dis- continued, and that henceforth the work for Greeks should be separated from that for Armenians, the latter to be strength- ened and developed in all possible ways. A fresh campaign of persecution for the Armenians began in the autumn of 1844 with the appointment of a new patriarch, Matteos. The surprise and distress of this on- „?^ ^ o ^ slaught were the greater in that, following upon some outrageous executions by Turkish officials in 1843, the European powers, under the lead of the British ambas- sador. Sir Stratford Canning, whose service to the cause of religious liberty and of Turkish missions through all these dark years makes his name forever honored, extorted a written pledge from the sultan that henceforth no person should be executed in Turkey because of his religious opinions. Hailed at the time as a real charter of religious hberty, and with its issuance regarded almost as a miracle, this pledge was found to have but little immediate effect, being followed at first by increased persecution. The new patriarch had once himself leaned toward the EvangeUcals. Now his office turned him the other way, and in the reaction he used all his ingenuity to destroy them. Armenians in business found their shops boycotted; teachers and priests were banished; men and women were stoned on the streets, hung up by the thumbs, spat upon and smitten in the face, tortured with the bastinado, thrown into prison without open charge or trial. Spies were everywhere. Even at the interior stations the strong arm of the oppressor was felt. Many recanted or fell back into secret discipleship. Others grew the bolder and developed in Christian character. REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 105 A noble witness was borne by many; in some quarters the gospel never made so much progress as during the period of these outrages. The touring missionaries met inquirers everywhere. Finding that all his efforts to suppress the reformation were futile, and that it was even spreading under his eyes, the Excommu- patriarch resorted at last to the ban of excommuni- nication at cation. Twice during 1846, in the patriarchal Last church in Constantinople, with the house darkened and veil drawn in front of the altar, a bull of excommunica- tion was read against the Evangelicals, and every vile and cruel epithet heaped upon them. This edict, it was ordered, should be read annually in all the Armenian churches through- out the empire. Cast out from their ecclesiastical organization and thus also deprived of their political rights, the wretched people were without any protection, until, upon the protest of the great powers, the grand vizier himself came to their rehef. The officer appointed to safeguard them, when they appeared before him, refused to receive them simply as Armenians; they could no longer claim either the religious or political rights of that community. It was "Protestants" whose shops he was to protect. So the name which they never had taken was given to them and became henceforth their official designa- tion. The Church which drove them out made them a sep- arate people and styled them Protestants. There was no recourse now but to organize a new church, and these excommunicated Christians at once applied to the First missionaries for help. After careful consultation a Protestant plan was drawn up for the organization of the First Church Evangelical Armenian Church in Constantinople, Organized, and on the first day of July, 1846, that church was ^ ^ publicly recognized. Its Armenian members, thirty- seven men and three women, rising to declare their assent to the plan, confession, covenant, and rules, the missionaries and 106 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD other friends then rose, as representatives of Protestant evan- geUcal churches, and pubHcly acknowledged them as a true church of Jesus Christ. Churches on the same broad basis of evangehcal Christianity, without denominational bonds, were soon formed at Nicomedia, Adabazar, and Trebizond. These churches then organized themselves into evangelical associations or unions, which directed the affairs of the churches, even ordaining ministers and preachers, and in which the missionaries themselves had no vote. Now that the movement was open and recognized, it advanced yet faster. The seminary at Bebek developed into a theo- Spread of logical school; a boarding-school for young women, Evangeli- opened at Pera in 1845, began to send out its trained calism graduates for various forms of service. By 1848 a thousand Armenians had separated from the old Church; thousands more were friendly to the new movement. Work had been begun in such far places as Aintab, Aleppo, and Arabkir. In many centers the most alert and enlightened of the community were waiting to hear more of the gospel and its message of spiritual freedom. Persecution did not cease at once upon the separation of the Evangelicals. Indeed, conditions were almost insupport- able when, in 1847, the grand vizier, by renewed pressure, issued a firman acknowledging the new Protestant community, and according to it all the rights of other communities in the empire. These rights were strengthened and given authority in 1850, when the sultan himself granted a new charter to the Protestants, recognizing and confirming all that had been done before. They were now able to choose their own political head to represent them at the Porte, to manage their affairs, and to conduct their rites of worship under imperial protection. To the founders of the Turkish Mission it must often Looking have seemed that progress was pitifully slow. Backward Yet those who looked back after one generation had reason to marvel and to give praise at what had ELIAS RIGGS Greece, 1833-1838 Turkey, 1838-1901 ALDIN GROUT South Africa, 1835-1870 MIRON WINSLOW CeyloT}, 1820 Madras, 1836-1864 FIDELIA FISKE Persia, 1843-1858 WILLIAM GOODELL Turkey, 1823-1865 JUSTIN PERKINS Persia, 1834-1869 PETER PARKER China, 1834-1857 REPRESENTATIVE MISSIONARIES (Earlier) REENTERING BIBLE LANDS 107 been already accomplished. For by this time there were five missions estabhshed, two of them reaching far into the interior and dealing with races almost unknown at the begin- ning. Eleven stations were occupied, with sixty-four mission- aries, counting both men and women, and with more than thirty native helpers. There were churches of native dis- ciples in all these missions; schools of higher and lower grade, whose graduates were going forth all through the land; busy presses were sending forth a varied Hterature, and nearly every race and religion in this composite empire had come in contact with the new teaching. Turkey was fairly astir with the influence of the missionaries. And what men they were ! Of the Turkish Mission, as of the founders of all the early missions of the Board, it is to be said that there were giants in those days. It was with the missionaries to Turkey and, in particular, the group at Con- stantinople in mind, that the Earl of Shaftesbury later said: *'I do not believe in the history of diplomacy, or in the history of any negotiations carried on between man and man, we can find anything equal to the wisdom, the soundness, and the pure evangehcal truth of the body of men who constitute this mission." Chapter VI EDGING INTO CHINA Robert Morrison summoned the American Board to China in 1828. His appeal was backed by Americans engaged in the Canton trade, who laid special emphasis r.\ ^ ' upon the number of English-speaking merchants and seamen that might be reached in the ports. The open preaching of the gospel was for]:)idden, but it was thought that much could be done through private conversation and the distribution of books. This call came to the Board at a favorable time. The mis- sions already undertaken were now fairly under way and encouraged new ventures. And China was an appealing land. Her huge size, the uncounted multitudes of her people, the antiquity of her civihzation, her need of an uphfting rehgion, all challenged the eager spirit of Christian conquest. The very failure of earher missionary efforts, of the Nestorian Church in the sixth century, and of the Jesuits following Xavier in the sixteenth, prompted a new attempt, as China was beginning to open a little to western influences, to sow the seeds of divine truth in this stubborn soil. When, in 1829, a Canton merchant offered to provide passage for a missionary and to support him for a year, the Board Mission determined to start its enterprise in China. The Begun, two pioneers were Rev. Elijah C. Bridgmah and 1830 Rev. David Abeel, the latter appointed by the American Seaman's Friend Society, but soon after his arrival in China becoming a missionary of the Board, in whose service the rest of his years were spent. The newcomers joined Dr. Morrison at Canton in February, 1830. Abeel at once took 108 EDGING INTO CHINA 109 up his task for the sailors and Bridgman set himself to acquire the language. It was recognized that the Chinese were a reading people and much influenced by books. One of the first efforts of Xhe the missionaries, therefore, was to prepare books Opening in Chinese and to distribute them among the people. of Work In this mission the school was the slowest to develop and the last agency to come to importance. The Chinese were too well satisfied \^'ith their own classics to have am- respect for the learning of other lands. And as official place and honors were secured through their national system of examinations, they were slow to send their children to mission schools. But everv-where the missionaries went on their tours they found a ready call for books and tracts. The gift of a printing outfit, called the Bruin Press, m memory- of the pastor of the Bleeker Street Church, New York, equipped the mission to meet this need, while the arrival of S. WeUs WiUiams, two years later, furnished an exceptionally qualified printer and author. The a\'idit\^ of the Chinese to get missionary pubhcations did not necessarilj' indicate deep interest in their contents. ^Ir. WiUiams, at the close of the first decade, found no proof that the thousands of books scattered among the Chinese people had interested one mind to inquire carefull}- concerning their contents. A pubhcation that did prove effective was the Chinese Repository, a monthh' begun with the start of the mission, under Dr. Bridgman's editorship, and designed to spread information about China among present and pro- spective supporters of the mission. Another feature of the Board's opening work in China was its quick use of the medical agency. Dr. Peter Parker, commg The Medi- out in 1834, was the first distinctively medical mis- cal Arm, sionar}' ever sent to the field by any American or ^834 English-speaking society. The influence of his hos- pital in ■finning attention and good-wiU was of large impor- tance. Within the first five vears it was estimated that from no STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD 20,000 to 30,000 people entered its doors, 6000 of them patients. Often patients came from places distant 400 or 500 miles, many of them being persons of rank and influence, so that the good name of the hospital and its missionary was spread over a wide region. By keeping a few Chinese pupils always under his care. Dr. Parker made the hospital practically a medical training-school, from which men went forth to imitate his methods and to repeat his teaching wherever they located. So far did his influence go toward breaking down prejudice and gaining attention that there was as much truth as wit in the current epigram that he '' opened China to the mis- sionaries at the point of a lancet." Among the helpful influences in the day of beginnings was the support of such organizations as the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and locally, the Morrison Education Society, formed at Canton by merchants friendly to the spread of Christianity. Despite all this activity, it was hard to see that any progress was being made. After three years, Bridgman wrote home: "Were it not for the exceeding great and precious p ^^ promises, my heart would fail me — the work is so great, so vast, and the laborers so few and feeble. We are as nothing. I am not discouraged, my brother; I am not disheartened; but I am often, as now, sad. To see so much to be done and so little doing makes my heart ache. The prospect all around is very dark." The truth is that in the '30s China was not really open to foreign influence, even in her port cities. Nothing could be done publicly or as recognized missionary work. Though the common people were interested, or at least curious, the govern- ment was very jealous of foreigners, and ready often to issue imperial edicts against them. They could not reside on Chinese territory, or establish Christian schools, or, in the interior, even distribute tracts. The Hong merchants, or guild of native magnates at Canton, who held the right to deal with foreign EDGING INTO CHINA 111 traders, were the willing tool of the East India Company when it opposed missionaries in China as it had done in India. In the summer of 1834 political disturbances growing out of the opium controversy drove Mr. Bridgman from Canton, scattered his class of seven promising boys, stopped the work of the press through the imprisonment of the native printers, and compelled a temporary change of base to Macao, the printing establishment at the same time being transferred to Singapore, then a promising center for several missionary societies. Macao furnished a safe retreat where Christian work could be done quietly, especially by visiting the Chinese boats. It was also a convenient depot from which publica- tions could be poured into China as fast as they could be printed. During this time of partial interruption and waiting several voyages of missionary exploration were undertaken. Under Tours of the lead of Mr. Gutzlaff, an intrepid pioneer of a Explora- German society, Mr. Stevens and others made a tion, 1836 voyage up the Min River in 1836 to visit the tea plantations of Fuhkien. After proceeding for some time with- out molestation they were fired upon by soldiers and obliged to retreat. Another important voyage took Mr. Stevens and a repre- sentative of the London Missionary Society as far as Shan- tung. A cargo of about 20,000 volumes of religious books and tracts was distributed by these missionaries, who, spending their nights on the boat, by day ventured far ashore, with no guides and entirely unarmed. This was the first missionary excursion ever made along the Chinese coast in a vessel which did not carry opium, and the expense of the uncommercial venture was shared by a business house in Canton, the London Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society. A third voyage of inquiry was undertaken to Yedo, as the capital of Japan was then called. Its ostensible purpose was to 112 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD return some shipwrecked Japanese saitors; its real object was to discover whether it would be possible to undertake missionary work in that empire. In this party were Dr. Parker and Mr. Wilhams as well as the explorer Gutzlaff. Being neither war- ship nor trading vessel, this craft was no sooner seen in the bay of Yedo than she was cannonaded and forced to put to sea. At a more southern port, where no Europea,n vessel had ever been seen, there was a friendly welcome at first, but after a few days here also the visitor was fired upon. It is not to be forgotten, however, that one of the earliest visits of a foreign vessel to the ports of Japan was made through the bounty of Christian merchants and the courage of Christian missionaries seeking an entrance for the gospel of Christ. Notwithstanding the barriers in their way, the missionaries kept bravely to their task, and rejoiced over such encourage- The Mis- ments as they could find: a few Chinese were clear- sionaries' ing their houses of idols; street chapels, ever one Patience of the distinguishing features of evangehstic work in China, were now being used with effect; Dr. Parker's medical ministry was winning increasing favor. Instead of berating the people who treated them so coldly and remained so immovable to their appeals, the missionaries were inchned rather to extenuate their hostile attitude. The friends at home should realize how the Chinese had been trained to look upon all foreigners as barbarians and upon themselves as infinitely superior to other peoples in knowledge and ability. How would an American Christian feel if a despised native of the South Seas should confront him with the assertion that his religion was vain, his prophets impostors, and his hopes without foundation? The Chinaman's immemo- rial scorn of the foreigner must be overcome before his heart could be won to the foreigner's faith. So these patient men set themselves to go about quietly in shops and market-places, along the roadways and in the fields, EDGING INTO CHINA 113 to enter into conversation with whoever would listen, take advantage of such curiosity about western manners as might form an introduction, turn the talk if possible to the modes and objects of worship, and then declare the principles and precepts of Christianity, going over and over them as oppor- tunity served. '^We must know the people," again they say, '^and they us. There must be mutual respect, esteem, regard, and even love. Notwithstanding all their vices, we must love them — yes, even love them, while we abhor their evil practises." In 1840 a war broke out in China which for a time prac- tically stopped missionary operations there. It had been long impending. The damage which opium was doing to ^ g China was too evident and too serious to be allowed without a struggle. The ravage of the drug was to be seen in the countless sallow faces and emaciated forms, in the increasing poverty of multitudes of families, and in the dulled mind and deadened heart of this nation of opium smokers. The Chinese government, realizing the danger, was striving in its clumsy and ineffective way to stop the importation of the drug, while the profits of the shameful traffic which the East India Company had promoted led England to enforce its continuance. The missionaries held their ground during the war as best they could. Dr. Parker taking the opportunity to visit England and America in the interests of the Medical Missionary Society which had been formed at Macao. When at length the English had penetrated into the very heart of the empire and invested the ancient capital at Nanking, a new treaty was signed there in August, 1842, which forced China to allow the further debauching of her people. The one bright feature for the missionaries in the new adjust- ments was that five principal ports were now opened to the world. Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain. China's exclusive- 114 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ness and self-confidence received a jolt; both commerce and missions were now to have a freer hand. At once the matter of enlargement was taken up and the missionaries who had been working at long range in the outposts and islands of the far East found that at last the hour had come when they might press into China. ^ The American Board had made several efforts to secure a foothold on the outskirts of China. In 1831 Mr. Abeel visited Java, stopping at Batavia for the study of the g ' Fuhkien dialect of the Chinese language, the form most used in the Indian Archipelago and Siam. The indefatigable Gutzlaff had crossed to Bangkok from Singapore in 1828, and had sent an earnest appeal to America to occupy that field. Abeel went over to join him with a view to starting a mission, but his stay was short. A little later the American Board sent four more missionaries to Siam, including Dr. D. E. Bradley and Rev. Jesse Caswell. Dr. Bradley brought a press and type from Singapore and work was now pushed. It seemed at first that a great impression was being made; the missionaries were visited by all races and classes, and the demand for books by Siamese, Chinese, Burmans, and Malays constantly increased. The Prudential Committee was so much encouraged that they determined to send reenforcements to this field. The claim of the whole far East was now deeply felt. The situation in Siam was a new one for the Board's mis- sionaries. The lands so far entered had been either without any strongly organized religion or they had been so restrained by foreign powers as not to feel free in persecuting mission- aries. But in Siam they dealt with an independent govern- ment whose rule was bound up with a state religion, and that one of the most complex in the non-Christian world. Bud- dhism confronted Christianity here with a priesthood, proud, intolerant, and crafty. ^ The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 119. EDGING INTO CHINA 115 The government located the missionaries in Bangkok; they must not go outside it among the country people. Thus they were shut off from the Laos country on the north, which has Located since proved a most responsive and encouraging and at field. At the time the missionaries did not greatly Work mind the restriction. For the Siamese came to visit Bangkok much as the Jews used to go up to Jerusalem for worship. So if the gospel could not be carried to them, they came within the hearing of it. The islanders showed themselves a mild people, not stupid, but slow to accept new ways. A large proportion of the population was Chinese, and missionary work was divided between the two races. Here, as in China, efforts to found schools met with small success; the Siamese especially cared little for them, for the reason that the Siamese government gave its young men free instruction in connection with the wats or temples. As boats came to the harbor of Bangkok from every quarter of the kingdom, a way was found through them to scatter the gospel message widely. Dr. Bradley's medical skill soon gave him access to the royal circle. What made him famous was his fight against Winning smallpox. Though recognizing the hazard of it. Royal Dr. Bradley undertook to stay the disease by inocula- Favor ^jon. The attempt was successful and saved thou- sands of lives. When practised upon the royal family the king approved the treatment and sent the royal physicians to be trained by Dr. Bradley. So marked was the favor of the court toward the missionaries that it seemed almost as if the king would recognize their religion as better than his own. At the same time Mr. Caswell was making a friend of the heir apparent, who was being trained as a Buddhist priest. Becoming his tutor, Mr. Caswell so influenced him that when he came to the throne he showed still greater friendliness toward missionaries and toward western civilization. It was due to the influence of these missionary pioneers upon the 116 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD royal house of Siam that its rule has been notably just and pubhc-spirited for an oriental court. The direct results of mission work were nevertheless few and not encouraging. The number of converts was very Transfer of small; schools did not grow; the demand for books the Mis- and tracts slackened. After a dozen years there sion, 1850 was only one Siamese member of the church, and he was suspended for a time; of the three Chinese members, one had gone to China, one had been made an assistant to the mission, and of the third it had to be said "he does not run well." The royal favor was lost for a while to the mis- sion, apparently under the influence of Buddhist priests. When the close of the Opium War gave freer access to China, it seemed better to transfer the work for the Chinese to their own country, and after the missionaries who were laboring for them had withdrawn, it became more and more evident how little grip had been secured on the Siamese. At this time, too, there came disagreement among the members of the mis- sion over theological questions, Messrs. Bradley and Caswell adopting extreme ''holiness" or "sinless perfection" views. In view of all these adversities and the appeal for enlarging work in China, the Board in 1850 transferred its Siam Mission to the American Missionary Association, then undertaking some foreign fields of missionary work, and disposed to take up this enterprise, at the same time accepting the two mis- sionaries whose views had led to their withdrawal from the Board. Following up Abeel's favorable impression of Java as a mission field, the Board projected another of its extensive and Exploring systematic tours of exploration. Messrs. Munson the East and Lyman, sent out in 1832 to Java, were instructed Indies, to inquire and report concerning an}^ advantageous 1833-34 points for beginning work, not only in Java, but in other islands of the Indian Archipelago. It was understood that throughout this group the shores were occupied by the Malay EDGING INTO CHINA 117 race; the interior of the islands was said to be peopled by men radically different from the Malays, and whose languages, characters, and conditions had yet to be learned. Concerning these unknown peoples and the missionary opportunity among them these explorers were in particular to make report. Upon arrival at Batavia, in the fall of 1833, the missionaries settled down to prepare for their tour, Munson taking up the The Tour study of Chinese and Lyman that of the Malay of Suma- language. Early in the next year permission was tra, 1834 granted them by the Netherlands India government to visit parts of Sumatra and Borneo for missionary purposes. Landing on the western coast of Sumatra, they spent several weeks in visiting the principal towns and outlying islands, feeling their way along with due regard for safety and oppor- tunity. At last they felt themselves ready for their journey into the interior, to the wild Batak country. Pushing along through the tropical jungle, they advanced without incident for several days, until, unsuspecting any trouble, as they came to the small village of Lobu Pining, they were set upon by some of its warriors and struck do\\Ti. One of the missionaries was not instantly killed, and the people marked how he knelt in prayer until the second stroke silenced his lips forever. The exceeding pity of the event was that it came through a mis- understanding, the ignorant islanders associating these white men with some who had visited them before, and who, they thought, were responsible for a subsequent invasion of their land. When they had once struck, the Bataks carried the deed through to the horrible end, though the women, who had begged that the visitors' lives be spared, refused to cook the cannibal feast. The bones were at last consigned to a hole where refuse was thrown, and which was marked with three sticks. One of these sticks happened to be a green twig, which took root and grew until it now covers the memorial stone which marks 118 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the martyrs' grave. Although these two white men were never able to utter a word of the gospel to the Bataks in that savage day, they are regarded by the tens of thousands of Christian Bataks now as the real founders of Christianity in their land. In 1836 another group of missionaries arrived in Java, hoping to carry out the judgment of Abeel by founding a mission there. The government delayed answering their g ^^ request so that they could not even explore the island. The financial panic of 1837, which hurt so many mission fields, withheld their reenf or cements. A second attempt to enter Sumatra, while awaiting permission to locate in Java, was foiled by a war in the Batak country. At last the Netherlands India government announced that the missionaries might settle in Borneo, but nowhere else within its jurisdiction. The delay and opposition were very disquieting both to the missionaries and to the Board. It had not been in their thought to locate in Borneo, as other lands were believed to be more promising, but since this was the only door open the missionaries entered in without fal- tering. A hurried tour across Borneo from north to south revealed the task ahead. Clearly it was to be a difficult field. No less Borneo than four languages would have to be acquired Mission before this people could be reached and only one under had been reduced to writing; the population was Way, 1838 scattered; the blight of Mohammedanism was over a part of the field; the Dyaks of the interior, though a better race than the Malays, were nothing more than savages, friendly when in peace, but bloodthirsty and barbarous when at war. Six men seemed an insignificant force to meet such obstacles. With fine courage the missionaries settled to their task on as hard a field as was anjrwhere to be found. By their per- sistence some results were accomplished, but very slowly and EDGING INTO CHINA 119 with utmost difficulty. When the government restrictions became severer, to the point of endangering the hfe of the mission, and protests were unavaihng, the missionaries were inchned to leave the coast and go to the Dyaks in the interior. Those who had been laboring especially for the Chinese in the island took advantage of the opening of the Chinese ports after the Opium War to transfer their work to that empire . Despite all that could be done, the Borneo Mission seemed to lose ground. The opposition of the Malays increased; the Dyaks were indifferent; the field was felt to be a valley of dry bones. Yet the loyal missionaries were not disposed to withdraw. They appealed to their brethren of the Dutch Reformed Church, which portion of the Board's constituency was especially providing for this field, to send reenforcements. But no helpers came. Efforts were made to get men from Switzerland and The Netherlands, but in vain. At last the mission fairly died out for lack of missionaries. This was a disappointing and humbhng experience; but as it had not been originally intended to enter Borneo, and as every effort had been made to develop the mission there, the Board felt justified in turning to more promising fields, leaving the evangelization of this island to whoever might take it up or to the opportunity of a later time. At once, upon the opening of Chinese ports to foreign resi- dents, the Board reached out to get a stronger hold upon the Enlarge- empire. The very year of the new treaty (1842) ment in Dr. Abeel, accompanied by missionaries of the China (See American Episcopal Church, made a trip up the p. 114) coast to Amoy, to see if there was an opening there. A hke visit was made by Mr. WilHams to Hong Kong, the latter place, which as a result of the war had leaped from a barren island to a substantial city under British rule, being occupied for a time as a station. But experience proving that it was better to be on the mainland and nearer the native life, the 120 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD missionaries returned to Canton in the summer of 1845. Dr. Abeel's visit to Amoy resulted in his settlement there, where Messrs. Doty and Pohlman, coming over from Borneo, were in time to relieve him, when by failing health he was obhged to return to the United States. The work of a busy and effective mission now developed. The daily round of the missionaries included an hour of study with a teacher, an hour of meeting with other missionaries and native teachers for translation in the revising of the Chinese New Testament, an afternoon largely devoted to study, closing with public worship, and followed by a little rest and outdoor exercise, often taking the form of a walk through the crowded streets where there were always hundreds ready to listen, the day ending with a long evening of writing or reading, or per- haps with a service of prayer. Meetings for women soon began to be possible, and the opportunity for women missionaries was evident. Street chapels increased in number and attractiveness to the people. By 1848 a church building was erected, and in 1850 a church was organized, a mother and two sons being baptized and admitted to membership. Their cases had been carefully watched for more than two years, and the day of their ingath- ering was a red-letter day for the mission. The brethren of the London Missionary Society omitted their service to join in the celebration. Other members were soon added to this infant church. The mission was eager to extend its work to other ports now open, and, while expecting to continue at Canton and Hong Kong, was looking eagerly to the north. On New Year's Day, 1847, Stephen Johnson arrived at Foochow, whither he had been deputed with Lyman D. Peet to open a new station. Temporary homes were secured in the suburbs, from which the city could be reached and worked. By 1850 there were six missionaries in residence here, and the school, publication, and preaching departments were all under way. EDGING INTO CHINA 121 The patient labor of the missionaries was beginning to tell in the winning of respect and influence, not only among the common people, but with officials. The five high Prestke mandarins of Amoy invited the missionaries to a feast; the viceroy of the district, on his triennial visit to the city, took occasion to show them public tokens of regard; when the Americans went abroad they were uniformly treated with deference. Mr. Bridgman's labors as interpreter for Commodore Kerney at Canton in negotiating the treaty of 1842, and Dr. Parker's distinguished service as secretary of the United States Lega- tion, after resigning from the Board to accept that post in 1847, are but more conspicuous examples of the important aid which early missionaries in China rendered in bringing the empire into touch with the western world. *The appearance in 1848 of S. Wells Williams' The Middle Kingdom not only increased knowledge and interest in China, but inciden- tally added to the reputation of the Board's workers there. . By this time (1846) the standing and privileges of mission- aries in the empire had been greatly increased. Three suc- cessive treaties had each been of advantage: one with England had secured the opening of the five ports; one with America had added rights and privileges, not only for all its merchants, but for all its citizens in these ports, so extending those rights as to include the founding of institutions for larger missionary work; a third treaty with France added the rights to all nations to establish schools and colleges, to buy and sell foreign as well as Chinese books, and to teach foreign as well as Chinese languages. The way seemed now to be opened legally for the free declaring of the Word of God. Notwithstanding this enlargement of missionary work and Yet Slow the freer chance, the results were still meager and Progress slow. It was hard to get the people to comprehend new ideas even when they seemed to understand the words. The upper and even the middle classes were incased in their 122 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD national pride; at first, only the very poorest could be reached. And hostility was rife. In 1846, as Dr. Bridgman was dis- tributing books in the doorway of a street chapel in Canton, a tract was set on fire and hurled in his face; a second attempt was made to burn a quantity of books by the door, but the coolness and courage of the missionary prevailed and the crowd retreated at length, leaving him master of the situation. There was a good deal of turbulence in those days when treaties were being forced. Foreigners were often assaulted, but no real injury was sustained. At best the missionaries were not able to make such impres- sion as they wished. It was diflficult for them to appreciate the native mind; their crude and inelegant speech, from the stand- point of Chinese oratory, impeded their message. There was desperate need of a native agency, which so far was not avail- able. People were little inclined to put their children in schools conducted by foreign teachers. Dr. Ball had gathered a few scholars into a school in Canton, but it seemed impossible to start a seminary for training native workers, and even in 1850 there was no material for forming a church there. The moral condition of the people was appallingly low; robbers, pirates, and murderers were plentiful, even in Canton, and jails were glutted. The inhumanity of the people was most discourag- ing; they seemed almost insensible to the wrongs and sufferings that prevailed. As we look back to-day, the situation at the close of that first period seems dark and discouraging. China was still practically closed to the gospel. It was a period of drilhng the rock. Yet to those on the ground, whose memory trav- ersed the period, it seemed that much had been gained. Bridg- man's words in 1850 express what was in the minds of all: ''When the beloved Abeel and myself arrived here, there was, in all this wide field, only one Protestant missionary, and only lim- ited access to the people at one port. To propagate Chris- EDGING INTO CHINA 123 tianity, on the part of the foreigner, and to embrace and practise it, on the part of the native, was then ahke, in either case, a capital crime. In these twenty years what changes have we seen! Morrison and Abeel have gone to their rest, and many others who came subsequently to China are also gone; yet nearly a hundred laborers, men and women, preachers and teachers of Jehovah's blessed gospel, are now in the field; and we have free access to millions of the people. The first fruits of a great and glorious harvest begin to appear." Chapter VII ATTEMPTING AFRICA Africa is yet called the dark continent; a century ago it was black as midnight. Save on a narrow fringe of coast there was no pretense of civilization. Inland stalked ^. ^\^ ' wild beasts and naked savages. Its shores were dmg Land fever-laden; its ports cities of shame, where traders debauched the native to yet lower depths of brutality. To the traveler, Africa was an unknown land; for missionary resi- dence it had a dismal and dangerous look. Yet work for Africa was projected in America long before the days of the American Board. So early as 1773 Rev. Samuel Hopkins, minister of an influential church in Newport, then a center of the slave-trade, with his neighbor. Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterward president of Yale College, secured funds and organized a society to educate negroes for missionary work in the home- land of their race. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War put a stop to this undertaking. But Africa was upon the heart of the men of the Haystack, and it was on returning from a tour of missionary exploration of that continent that Samuel Mills met his death. At its annual meeting of 1825 the American Board voted to establish a mission in Africa as soon as the Prudential Com- mittee could find a way. Inquiries were thereupon j^ made as to the possibilities on the northern, western, and eastern coasts; but it was not until 1833 that a decisive step was taken toward entering the continent. Then John Leighton Wilson and a college classmate, Stephen R. Wyncoop, joining a company of emigrants going out under 124 ATTEMPTING AFRICA 126 the Colonization Society of Maryland, undertook a tour of investigation. Touching at Monrovia, the explorers proceeded along the coast for 300 miles to Cape Palmas, a headland on the Guinea coast, which they fixed upon as most favorable for the establishment of a mission, the cape marking the divid- ing point between the windward and leeward coasts, both of which might easily be reached from this base. It was also considered that such proximity to the new colony would be of advantage. The natives here were found at the lowest grade of super- stition, and those in the interior beyond the thick forests were said to be of the same character; their religion was so vague and undeveloped it seemed as if it could not be hard to displace. Mohammedanism, in the persons of the school- master and the warrior, was advancing rapidly from the north. It was time for Christianity to preempt the ground. There appeared to be a general desire for schools, and a good location was generously offered by the agent of the colony. The spies brought back a favorable report. When Mr. Wilson returned to Cape Palmas with his wife, near the close of 1834, they were met with a hearty welcome. Staking The framed house brought out the year before had out the been put up and made ready, and the colonists were Field friendly and helpful. The natives, too, were glee- ful over their arrival, though it was recognized that they had so little conception of what the mission wa6 for that their enthusiasm did not count for much. The missionaries settled resolutely to their task. Their purpose was not to develop one large station at Cape Palmas; rather to make it a base from which to extend a line of stations inland. From the first, the Board's thought had turned toward the vast interior of the continent, the plan being to advance from the Gold Coast to the country of the Ashantees, believed to be the greatest of the West African peoples, and, when the 126 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Niger should be opened, to press on toward those unknown but rumored highlands of Central Africa. The vision before the eyes of the founders "was as magnificent as the language in which they phrased it : a chain of missions, planted by both American and European societies, with such wise cooperation that at length from the east and the west, from the north and the south, their representatives should meet ''upon some central mountain to celebrate in lofty praise Africa's redemp- tion." In carrying out this ambitious plan it was expected that much dependence must be put upon pious natives and colonists, so that a training-school seemed of immediate importance to prepare teachers and catechists for the advance. A boarding- school, therefore, was begun at once at Cape Palmas, with fifteen boys and four girls as pupils, and more applying than could be received. An elementary school was also begun by Mr. Wilson, in anticipation of the time when it could be turned over to native teachers. As soon as knowledge of the language permitted, a schoolbook was prepared and preaching started. Soon a mission church was organized, to which new members were gradually added, eight being received during the third year of the mission. At length reenforcements made possible a second station, ten miles away, and provided a printer. Day and evening schools were now in operation, and the boarding-school had fifty pupils. Prejudice against the training of girls was sub- siding. A few Christian homes appeared with the marriage of those who had been associated in the schools. Encouraging inroads were made on the gross superstition of the people, and the influence of fetish men was plainly diminishing. It being the general belief that if they fell or were thrown into sea water, they would lose their satanic power, the people at one of the outstations, with shouting and general rejoicing, cast eight of them into the surf, threatening others with similar treatment if their actions did not suit the crowd. Unhappily, it could ATTEMPTING AFRICA 127 not be said that '^pure religion and undefiled" was taking the place of these abandoned superstitions. Careful tours were now undertaken along both the Gold and the Ivory Coasts and into the interior, inviting fields being A Disap- discovered in all directions, if only there were pointed laborers to occupy them. The appeal for reenforce- Hope ments grew intenser, and the temper of the Board toward this mission became so enthusiastic that while call was made only for seven or eight workers, it was declared there were locations for a hundred and that Central Africa, if vigorously approached, would be found open to Chris- tianity. But no such number of new missionaries could be secured, and of those that did come, almost all were stricken with sickness, several unto death. The menace of the malarial climate depressed even these devoted men and women, and as it fell out, if there had been more volunteers, they would hardly have been sent. For that commercial panic of 1837 which wrought havoc on all the Board's fields was particu- larly disastrous in the Cape Palmas Mission. It became neces- sary to close schools and dismiss teachers, one-half of the boarding scholars in the seminary being sent away. Here, as in Ceylon, the effect of this action upon the natives was altogether harmful. In their ignorance they could not understand the reason for the mission's financial embarrass- ment and misinterpreted it. It was rumored that the mis- sionaries had been discredited at home and that they were to be recalled. To avoid being caught in the impending disgrace, parents withdrew their children from those schools that were still open. This retrenchment came, too, at a time when the first interest in the mission was waning and the natives were showing signs of reaction against its serious purpose. Thus the attendance fell off at preaching services, the activity of press and school lessened, and the entire work of the mission seriously lagged. To make matters worse, troubles arose 128 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD with the adjacent colony; there were frequent collisions between natives and colonists, and the latter began to show some jeal- ousy of the missionaries. In view of all these hindrances, and because it had never been intended to make Cape Palmas the chief location of the mission or to remain permanently at the coast, it was decided to seek a better position from which to start that line of mis- sions with which the continent was to be girdled. After a voyage of discovery, the new station was planted on the nearer side of the Gaboon River, twenty miles north of the equator. Two of the Cape Palmas stations were now transferred to American Episcopal missionaries, and the Board's force, includ- ing several native members of the Cape Palmas church, removed to the new location. Work was here begun under more favorable auspices. Two stations were located, with the approval of King Glass, the Opening main one at his town eight miles from the mouth the Gaboon of the river. Though this region seemed not so Mission, densely populated as that of Cape Palmas, the 1843 Mpongwe people, who dwelt here, appeared more advanced in civilization than any others so far found on the western coast of Africa. Their language was surprisingly per- fect, far pleasanter to the ear and more facile for use than the rougher tongue of the people to the north. With slight differ- ences in dialect, it was found usable along two hundred miles of seacoast. Schools were opened at once with a good number of pupils, the king himself offering one of his own houses for a building. Soon there were boarding-schools both for girls and boys, and five other schools by day and night were teaching the scholars who came eagerly to them. A church was organized within a year by Christian natives who had come from Cape Palmas, and by the next year there were nineteen native members and there had been one Christian marriage. The printing press was at work preparing text-books, hymn books, and cate- ATTEMPTING AFRICA 129 chisms, and such volumes for religious culture as are indicated by the titles, Joseph and his Brethren and The Broad and Narrow Way. The Gaboon River was open for navigation for thirty miles from its mouth. The banks were high, the water excellent, and trade considerable. The missionaries were PrGssiiifir eager to press on to the regions beyond. A tour by Mr. Wilson for more than seventy miles from the coast brought valuable information as to the character of the inland people, in particular of the Pangwes, who were now pushing toward the coast, to the alarm of the maritime tribes. Mr. Wilson was much impressed with the appearance of these people, the noblest race of savages he had seen in Africa. The impression grew that in the unexplored central regions of the continent would be found peoples much superior to those who had been crowded out to the coasts. While the change of the mission to the Gaboon thus brought fresh courage and determination to the missionaries, their task in the new location was by no means easy. The climate, though an improvement on Cape Palmas, still was that of equatorial Africa and of the coast. Here, too, the health of the missionaries was very precarious, and the ravage of sickness and death continually depleted the ranks. And while the native people, from the king down, were friendly and tractable, the missionaries did not now escape the adverse influence of foreigners. One of the first discoveries on arrival at the Gaboon was the appalling fact that a Spanish factory on the opposite side of the river was maintaining human slavery. Soon more direct troubles came from a gross outrage by representatives of France. In 1844 the French government gained permission from an independent chief to Afferess'on ^^^^^ ^ factory on the Gaboon River, close to the mission station. At first it was feared that the factory would prove to be a fort to dominate the river. A large company of French Catholic missionaries were known to 130 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD be in training at Cape Palmas, and it was surmised that a group of them would be sent to the Gaboon. At length, with the aid of a jug of brandy and other false promises, King Glass was induced to sign what proved to be a treaty ceding the sovereignty of his dominions to Louis Philippe, thus com- pelling the missionaries henceforth to look for protection to the king of France. When the king sobered off and the trick was discovered, there was loud outcry. But the deed was done. Two years later, dissatisfied with so shady a title, the French government sent a brig of war to bombard the town, and, when the people had fled to the bush, to take possession. Dur- ing the fighting the mission quarters barely escaped destruc- tion, the display of the American flag seeming only the more to incense the French. When the ship's officers had restored order, they apologized for the affront to the mission station, and thereafter courteous relations were maintained between the missionaries and the new masters of the land. Perhaps the favorable attention shown to the Americans by the naval officers of their own government who visited the Gaboon, as the southern point of their cruising ground, may have stimu- lated the politeness of the Frenchmen. The anticipated incursion of Roman Catholics came to pass when they also transferred their station from Cape Palmas to the Gaboon. The missionaries, fearing that trouble might arise, were now minded to start a new station beyond the jurisdiction of the French, where the Board's mission could rally if expelled from the Gaboon. In spite of these new burdens and perplexities, the mission- aries never lost heart. They felt that they had a good field for labor, and that they were getting hold. The Q ., , mass of the people already showed some impress of the gospel, and the schools, if irregular in their conduct, were furnishing a measure of instruction to large numbers of pupils, adults as well as children. The climate ATTEMPTING AFRICA 13^ here was at least no worse than in other parts of Africa where white men had gone in the interests of commerce. So the missionaries appealed for reenforcements and continually looked for new openings, keeping still to the fore the primary- purpose of pressing into the heart of the continent. The difficulties in attempting to advance into the interior were very great. Nowhere were there roads; once the rivers were left, the traveler found only a narrow path through dense forests. And there were no caravans or traders; the people were timid guides. Without one great chieftain or established government, there was only warfare, treachery, and savage jealousy between ail the inland tribes. The account of a second visit of the missionaries to the Pangwe people indicates how exciting were some of these tours among the unkno\vn races of the interior: "When we approached the shore, tie brow of the hill was covered with a dark tumultuous throng, shouting and gesticulating in the wildest manner imaginable. When we landed, all the women disappeared, but the men remained, and their appearance did not belie their reputation. It is said that they never fear the face of man; and more perff^ct specimens of masculine vigor I have never seen. The competitors at the Olympic games might have envied such bones and muscles so perfectly developed. The Pangwe people are just emerging from the unknown wilds of Central Africa, and are still free from many of the effects, both good and bad, of intercourse with civihzed men. No white man had ever before been seen in their place; and few, if any of them, had ever before beheld a white face. They took it for granted that I came as their friend, and brought me presents of spears and such other implements as they pos- As a result of these tours it was found that there was a remarkable unity of language among the races of Central Africa, so that the early hope was reenforced that this mission on the west coast might be the point of approach to 132 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the vast interior of the continent. In this good hope the missionaries were content to labor and to wait. The words they sent back at the close of this period of the mission's his- tory not only reflect the situation, but show the quality of the missionaries: ''Before a mission can be established in the interior, the acquaintance of the intermediate people must be made, their confidence gained, and their language learned. We must estabhsh a line of communication, and be able to preserve it, or it will be madness to attempt the conquest of those wild and barbarous regions. This line of communica- tion must be in the hearts of the people. We are ready to attempt this to the extent of our abihty, and beyond our ability. The providence of God beckons us onward; and trusting in the great Captain of our salvation, we hope to gain the victory." Almost at the same time that the Board was landing its first missionaries on the west coast of Africa, it was preparing Zulu Mis- to begin operations among the Zulus on the eastern sionBegun, side of the continent. In the choice of this loca- ^^35 tion the Board was guided by Dr. Philip, superin- tendent of the London Missionary Society's work in South Africa, who pointed out that the Zulus were the leading race in that region. A branch of the Bantus, they were distinct from the Hottentots, their appearance and characteristics marking them as of a higher order. The prowess of their great chieftain, Chaka, had made them lords of the land north- ward to the Limpopo. The event has abundantly justified the Board's choice of this people, since it has appeared that their language is the lingua franca of the land, in one or another dialect being under- stood also among the Barotse and the Matabele, through the Transvaal, and even in Gazaland. And the race is as widely diffused as its speech; it is found everywhere through south- eastern Africa. Though stalwart and aggressive as a race, the Zulus were ATTEMPTING AFRICA 133 savages and heathen when the missionaries found them. They Uved in kraals, or villages, consisting of a circle of huts Character- looking like huge beehives, a single hole in the istics of the side of each answering for door, window, and Zulus chimney. Around the one room the occupants of the hut squatted or stretched themselves for sleep. They wore little clothing, but a profuse amount of beads and other barbarous ornaments. The men were warriors, hunters, and herdsmen; the women did the menial work in the fields or in the kraals. They were a polygamous people, a man's wealth consisting largely in the number of his wives, who wore virtually his slaves. The other item of wealth was cattle, either being negotiable in terms of the other; the usual quotation was ten to twenty cows for a wife. Daughters were prized because of their monetary value in cattle. The religion of the Zulu, if such it could be called, was a gross superstition, including belief in witches, dependence upon witch doctors and rain doctors, and the worship of ancestral spirits. The missionaries at first thought the Zulus a moral people for one so uncivilized, but on closer acquaintance declared that they broke every commandment, being especially destructive of the seventh and ninth, and much given to strong drink. With no development in the arts or industries of even half- civilized life, ignorant, superstitious, warlike, they were an essentially lawless people, living easily when they could, fight- ing hard when their passions were roused, gorging themselves when food was plenty, making little provision for the future, content to live in squalor and vice. Shortly before the arrival of the missionaries a war for supremacy between Dingaan, a brother of the mighty Chaka, The Plan and one of the late king's generals, had split the of the nation in two, and the defeated chief had retreated Mission ^q h^q interior with his portion of the tribe. So there were now two kingdoms, with a mountain between their territories and a mountain of fear and hate between their 134 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD peoples. The missionaries, therefore, deemed it necessary to divide their forces, one part to estabhsh itself, if it might, in Dingaan's kingdom, and the other in the kingdom of the defeated Umzilikazi (Moselekatse). Upon arrival in Cape Town, one company, consisting of the Venables, Lindleys, and Wilsons, set forth in three large wagons upon their long trek to Umzilikazi's country, 1000 miles to the northward and 500 miles west from Natal. The other group, consisting of Aldin Grout, Newton Adams, M.D., and George Champion, with their wives, who were to start the maritime mission, were prevented from going at once to their field as their route lay through a part of the country where the Kaffirs and Dutch Boers were fighting. The delay gave them time to study the Zulu language and to win the good opinion of foreign residents in Cape Town, from whom they were after- ward to receive substantial aid. At length the men of the party succeeded in reaching Din- gaan's kraal, about 160 miles from Port Natal, and were encour- aged by the kindly welcome of the natives, the beauty and fertility of the land, and the quahfied consent of the chief, to open a mission. While the other two returned to Cape Town to bring the ladies of the party and the mission goods, Mr. Champion set himself to build the mission houses, and actually began mission work by opening a school under the shade of a tree, where, using the sand for a blackboard, he welcomed those of all ages and conditions who were ready to become his scholars. The coast party had hardly reached Umlazi, the first loca- tion for their mission, when they were surprised by the arrival of the members of the mission to the interior, who had found it impossible to locate in Umzilikazi's territory, it was so full of savagery and fighting. They had, therefore, taken to the wagons again for the still longer roundabout journey across the Drackenberg Mountains to join their brethren. With so enlarged a force and with room enough for all, in a ATTEMPTING AFRICA 135 few months four stations were occupied and two schools under way; the printing press was in operation and regular preaching services arranged, which drew large congregations. But when war broke out between Dingaan and the Boers, the country became again a battle-field and the missionaries were obliged to retreat. So serious and prolonged was the interruption of this war that inquiries began to be made as to a more fortunate point The o^ approach to the eastern side of the continent. Second Zanzibar was considered as a possible location, and Step had been approved by the Board, when at last the overthrow of Dingaan and the succession of a chief of different temper brightened the outlook for work among the Zulus. By this time the mission had become almost disorganized. Messrs. Grout and Champion were in the United States; Mr. Lindley had reluctantly turned aside to work for the Dutch emigrants, in whose welfare he had become interested. At length a new start was made at Umlazi, where Dr. and Mrs. Adams were already located, and where the usual departments of station work were at once developed. But Mr. Grout was eagerly watching for a chance to reenter the real Zulu country, and upon invitation from Umpandi, the new chief, a station was opened at Impanyezi, just four years after the missionaries had been obliged to retire. This new location was the center of a district with thirty- seven villages, where the Grouts found ''nothing to fear except wild beasts." Their first dwelling was a mere native hut, but lines of mission work were soon taken up, and with such interest on the part of the natives as to prompt high hopes. Suddenly the chief, jealous of the missionaries' success and prestige, began a ferocious slaughter of his people, exterminat- ing some villages as a warning to the rest. No violence was attempted upon the missionaries, but under such conditions it was impossible to maintain the mission and its members were again compelled to fall back. Afterward trouble also 136 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD broke out between the British forces and Dutch settlers, mak- ing even Natal unsuitable for residence. The entire region seemed impossible for missionary work; the Board therefore decided in 1843 to discontinue the mission and sent out instruc- tions to that effect. Before these instructions could be carried out, another change reversed the situation. The British got control of Natal and established a better order of things. A ^ ^ new commissioner arrived, fair toward native inter- ests and friendly to the missionaries. Justice was now to be even-handed, without distinction of color and with laws protecting the rights of all. The commissioner was dis- posed to rely upon the mission stations and missionaries to assist in developing the native life. Here was a new face upon affairs. The prestige of the missionaries was at once raised. Multitudes of natives flocked into Natal for the pro- tection of its juster laws. Moreover, chief Umpandi now showed a different temper, requesting that a colonial agent and a missionary might be assigned to reside near him. With some doubt as to the wisdom of such alliance between political and missionary interests, the Board felt encouraged to make another trial of its enterprise. To this decision they were urged by the Christian settlers of the region who sent an appeal to the Board not to abandon the mission, and at a public meeting in Cape Town, under the lead of Dr. Philip and the American consul, raised $800 to defray Mr. Grout's expenses until word could come from the Board reversing its action. New locations were now made, the first at Umvote, some forty miles north from Durban and about twenty miles from Settling Umpandi's kingdom. Reenforcements began to Down to arrive; three stations were soon in operation, includ- Work ing Inanda, to which Daniel Lindley removed in 1847, returning thus to the distinctively foreign missionary work for which he had come to Africa. The opening of these ATTEMPTING AFRICA 137 pioneer stations was primitive toil. At first the missionary's wagon, with its ''span/' or six pairs of oxen, was not only his carriage, but his house as well, until he could get one built. And that first house, made largely with his own hands and sufficing for several years, cost about $75. The work of the mission was equally primitive and simple. It was evident at once that it was to be a long and hard task to overcome this unmitigated heathen life. Yet by patience, steadfastness, and genuine love for the people, the missionaries slowly won their way. Reviewing his Winning early labors Aldin Grout' once said: ''I worked there their as God gave me opportunity for ten years with Way various interruptions, and at the end of that time I could not point to a single convert or to a single one of my hearers of whom I could confidently say that he had been benefited by my message." Then he added, "It never entered my head to doubt that I and my fellow laborers were where God called us to labor." And in time results did appear. In 1846 a Zulu woman was admitted to the church at Umlazi; four others were propounded at the close of the same year. A rehgious quickening was apparent in all the stations. By the subtle tests of spiritual feeling the missionaries recognized a change for the better. An account of a communion service held by this mission at the very hour when the Board, at its annual meeting in Brook- lyn in 1845, was also celebrating the Lord's Supper, reveals the temper of the missionaries. They contrasted the spacious church in the homeland, with its elect fellowship, and the room in which they sat, surrounded by a Httle company of people scarcely out of heathenism. Outside was the dark land where Chaka had left his bones, and where the bleached bones of some of his people were yet lying in sight, but a short distance from the door. Surrounded by these dry bones, dead and alive, hearing the command of the Master, ''Do this in remem- brance of me," the answer of the missionaries was, "Yes, dear 138 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Saviour, we will remember thee, not only in thine ordinances, but we will preach, we will prophesy upon these bones, and say to them, '0 ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord,' and by thy grace may we soon see 'bone coming to his bone,' and spiritual life breathed into them." The arrival of fresh recruits in 1849, including such familiar names as those of the Lewis Grouts, the Irelands, the Wilders, More ^nd Tylers, made it possible to multiply and broaden Rapid the lines of work. Day and evening schools, as well Growth as boarding-schools, were now maintained in all the stations with the help of native teachers. There was no difficulty in getting congregations; from 600 to 800 would flock to the services. The monthly missionary prayer meet- ing was judged to be the most spirited exercise of all, the native Christians bringing to it their contributions not only of word and prayer, but of money as well. Soon they had raised the sum, large for them, of $15, given to support one of their own number who might go forth to labor for those yet sitting in darkness. By 1850 the mission could report twelve stations and six outstations, twenty-six missionaries, counting both men and The Out- women, and six native helpers. Six churches had look in by this time been formed, of whose seventy-eight 1850 members more than half had been admitted during the preceding year. A half-miUion pages had been printed in the Zulu tongue, and scattered through the land, and a monthly paper had been started. The preparatory work, such as clearing ground and erecting buildings, which had imposed so heavy a task upon the missionaries' time and strength at first, was now accomplished, and more attention could be given to developing the actual work of the mission. The chief obstacle to the progress of the people was their moral degradation, of which the missionaries became increas- ingly aware. Their coarse vices, dragging them lower than the brutes, tended to make them indifferent if not opposed ATTEMPTING AFRICA 139 to a religion which summoned them to cleanness of heart and righteousness of conduct. When they found that the gospel was opposed to polygamy, parents were loath to put their children under the influence of the missionaries, lest they should become converted. Yet Christian marriages were increasing, twelve being reported in one year. The visible effects of the missionaries' work were further to be seen in better homes and apparel, in improved behavior during public worship, and in a grow- ing desire for fairer conditions of life. The native helpers, both as teachers and preachers, though not all that could be desired in piety, scholarship, or maturity of character, yet showed genuine fruits of Christian experience and training, and stood relatively to their people, it was believed, as well as the ministers in New England towns. As the period closes, stress was being put upon the need of increasing the efficiency of these native agencies, and it was planned to open a seminary to prepare native preachers. The founders of the mission, comparing the early days when they ''wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way and found no place to dwell in," and when the Board was on the point of abandoning what seemed to be a futile mission, with this time, when to every eye it was apparent that the mission was firmly planted and bearing an increasing harvest, gave glory to God for the manifestations of His signal favor. Chapter VIII THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE A SMALL and feeble plant was this American Board in 1810, and set in uncongenial soil and at an unpromising time. The The Day General Association of Massachusetts had created of Small it, but with no general enthusiasm or approval. It Things never would have been organized then but for the importunity of the young men waiting to be sent forth. The missionaries preceded the missionary board and compelled it. And the organization at first was slight and incomplete. When the commissioners appointed at Bradford held their first meeting at Farmington, Connecticut, September 5, 1810, but five members were present. The only other attendant was Governor Treadwell's pastor, Rev. Noah Porter, in whose house they met. The next five annual meetings were also held in private parlors, the chambers of the house usually sufficing to lodge the party. After that, for several years a church vestry provided room enough for the meeting; in 1823 it was held in the Court House, Boston; in 1825 in the Town Hall, Northampton. The transacting of the Board's business in those days was also a modest and simple undertaking. At the outset it was done in a single small room in the basement of Jeremiah Evarts' home, on Pinckney Street, Boston, Mr. Evarts serving first as editor, from the second year as treasurer, and always as a valued helper to the corresponding secretary. At the begin- ning the Prudential Committee consisted of three members, and their meetings were held, as need was, from two to four times a year, and as convenience served, at Newburyport, 140 THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 141 Salem, Charlestown, Boston, Andover, Worcester, or Hartford. By 1819 Boston was the usual place of meeting; by 1822 a suite of rooms had been secured on Cornhill for the use of the officers and for the Committee's sessions; by 1832 weekly meetings of the Committee were the order. When the first missionaries sailed the Board had no legal existence, and the prospect of getting a charter was far from bright. The leaders of the Massachusetts Legislature were political foes of the main supporters of the Board, and it was not till after a conflict lasting through two sessions that the act of incorporation was secured in June, 1812. In the course of the heated discussion over the granting of this charter the historic objection was made that it was designed to afford means of exporting religion, whereas the country had none to spare, to which Judge White, of Newburyport, made reply, as profound as clever, that "religion was a commodity of which the more we exported the more we had remaining." Neither at home nor abroad did the time seem ripe for this venture. The world was still remote, a closed and unfriendly world. Travel was slow and difficult. There were no rail- ways; a few steamboats were experimenting in quiet waters amid much ridicule. The East was largely unexplored; the southern continents all but unknown. It was not certain that missionaries would be tolerated in any of these strange lands; the record of those who had tried to find an opening was not encouraging. The homeland was yet scarcely sure of its own life; facing another costly war with England; weak on the ocean; with its resources undeveloped and its future a dizzy uncertainty. Moreover, there was no sure support for the Board. Only individuals here and there could be depended upon as having even a quahfied confidence in its proposals. In such a situation, denied legal standing and hearty church support, in spite of scornful objections, with little organization and no accumulated funds, without a single door of oppor- 142 STORY OF. THE AMERICAN BOARD tunity opening before it, but inspired by the devotion of its first appointees, clutching at such tidings of success as came to it from Enghsh brethren working among the Hottentots and the South Sea Islanders, and sustained by the mighty faith of its founders, the American Board went at its task. In such circumstances it was necessary that procedure should be cautious; that much should be left for decision upon fuller knowledge and experience. The main purpose was Feeling its ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ doubtful. ''The object of this Board," it was declared, "is to devise, adopt, and prosecute ways and means for propagating the gospel among those who are destitute of knowledge of Christianity." Wisely the first instructions to those going to the field were of general character and put on them large responsibihty. They were to cultivate their personal life; to have charity among them- selves; to regard all missionaries of other denominations as brethren; to abstain from interference with political affairs; as far as possible to live peaceably with all men; to decide on arrival where to locate; to organize their mission decently and in order; to form a church and observe the Sabbath, first agreeing as to when the Sabbath should begin; to learn the language and approach the Gentiles graciously; to admit to the church only believers; to strike for the youth; to do their best to secure their own support. The organizing and developing of the home base show the same spirit of caution. The number of commissioners, origi- nally nine, five of them residents of Massachusetts and four of Connecticut, was quickly increased; thirteen were added in 1812, most of them being Congregationahsts. Apparently at the outset there was no thought that the Board was to be other than a Congregational society, though in name, charter, purpose, and policy it was amply conceived to include other bodies of Christians, as it soon came to do. In 1819 corre- sponding members were added from distinguished friends of missions in America and Europe, and in 1821 the class of THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 143 honorary members was instituted, composed of those in whose name considerable gifts were made to the Board, and to whom were open all the rights of corporate members save the power of voting. The actual administration of the Board's affairs was entrusted to the customary officers, certain corresponding secretaries, and a prudential committee whose votes, as attested by the signatures of its officers and by the corporation seal, constituted the legal basis of its operations. It was wonderful how quickly recruits came in those early days, not in the light spirit of adventure or romance, but under The Mis- the sobering sense of a tremendous responsibility, sionary Then as now the missionary motive was complex. Motive The Board's first addresses to the Christian public sound many notes of appeal: Christ's last command; his claim to the uttermost parts of the earth; the cruelty and misery of heathendom; the vision of a renovated world. But the supreme incentive to missionary devotion then was an aroused sense of vast multitudes of souls dead in trespasses and sins. The call that counted was the summons to rescue the perishing; the obligation that enforced the call was a knowledge of Christ. A challenge to missionary service, typical of the times and signed by Hall and Newell, clinched its argument with a por- trayal of the final judgment and the awful condemnation then to be brought home to careless disciples of Christ in beholding a stream of unsaved heathen borne on to eternal doom. It was to seek and to save the lost that the early missionaries left home and native land, to fulfil their obligation as redeemed men and women in making known their Saviour to those who had not yet heard of him. Under this constraint they were ready to dare any danger and to undertake any labor. Judson's letter asking for the hand of Ann Haseltine shows the anticipations with which the first missionaries set forth: **I have now to ask," he wrote her father, '' whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? whether you can consent to her 144 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hard- ships and sufferings of a missionary hfe? whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insults, persecution, and perhaps a violent death ? Can you consent to all this for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God?" The appalling list of deaths and enforced withdrawals, which, largely through ignorance and inexperience, marked the foreign missionary work in this period, did not cause the stream of volunteers to slacken. The thinning of the ranks stimulated the missionary purpose of many Uves. During the first quarter of a century the growth in number of missionaries was more marked than in receipts; in its closing year forty- seven missionaries and assistants were sent out and thirty- three others were under appointment. Among the plans which, in those experimental days, the Board devised for equipping its mission fields with workers, The was one to train promising youths who should Cornwall come to America from various parts of the pagan School world that they might go back to evangelize their own people. The discovery of Obookiah and his Sandwich Islands mates and their stirring plea for an education gave impetus to this plan. In 1817 a school was established at Cornwall, Connecticut, with Rev. Herman Daggett as prin- cipal. The first year there were twelve students, including five from the Sandwich Islands, two from India, and one North American Indian. The expenses of the school were necessarily large, but it was maintained generously by popular favor. The second year there were twenty scholars, with seven nation- alities represented; the tone of the school was fine; the young men lived together happily; their discipline and studiousness were satisfactory. The following year the number had grown THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 145 to thirty-two and the outlook was still encouraging. But by 1823 the enthusiasm had begun to lag, and serious difficulties appeared in managing a company so mixed as to race, so unlike in training and capacity. The reports from some of those who had been trained in the school and sent back to their native lands raised doubts as to the wisdom of this method of preparing a native agency. In 1827 the school was closed. But how should funds be secured to maintain the growing enterprise? The Prudential Committee, studying ways and Agencies means, could think of no better plan than to organ- and ize, in the principal towns of New England and Auxiliaries beyond, societies auxiliary to the Board, whose special business it should be to gather funds. Neither churches nor pastors were then so generally committed to the enterprise that reUance could be put on ecclesiastical machinery for producing the revenue. Agents were therefore appointed by the Board to form and stimulate these associations and through them to secure the treasury's constant supply. By 1817 the Board had eight such agents. These auxiliary societies were of various sorts and names, but were simply the organizing of men, women, and children, usually with division of the sexes, into some association for missionary giving. No better proof of the reality and vigor of this missionary awakening can be found than the rapidity with which these associations multiplied and spread over the land. By 1818 there were 300 of them, eighty-one for men, 173 for women, and twenty for both sexes. By the end of the first decade they numbered 500; by 1839, 1600; more than 680 women's organizations were then collecting funds for the American Board. Local associations so early as 1823 began to be united by districts into ^'auxiharies," through which they were kept in communication with the Board. At first there was much spontaneity and enterprise in these small bodies of givers; as time went on, it became more difficult to keep up the organization. Other societies, seeing 146 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the efficiency of the system, adopted it to such an extent that at last it broke by its own weight. The pubhshed acknowledgments of receipts afford interest- ing glimpses of the early givers and their gifts: ''From an ob- scure female, $100"; ''by ten httle girls, earned by committing Scripture to memory and abstaining from sugar, $1.29"; "saved from the trimmings of wearing apparel, $3"; "the box in the vestry of the Old South Church, Boston, $20"; "an un- known person in the district of Maine, $10." All sorts of names were taken by these groups of givers: Female Cent Societies were numerous; also Gentlemen's Societies; Heathen School Societies; Juvenile Societies. In the larger cities and towns there was usually a Foreign Missionary Society of the place or district. Despite all this organization and systematic canvass the needs were not met. Other missionary societies had an oppo- The site experience, but during the first fifteen years Financial the American Board always had more suitable men Problem ready to go to the field than could be sent. The Home Department had the heavy end of the load; it was even harder to find officers and agents for it than to secure mis- sionaries. At the end of the first decade the Board was spending $40,000 a year and with a small deficit. During this period it had expended a little over $200,000; about one-haK of the sum in India and Ceylon, one-quarter on the North American Indians, $10,000 in the Sandwich Islands, and $17,000 on the Cornwall school. In 1833 there were reported expenditures of $150,000 and a balance in the treasury of over $2,000. The year 1837 brought the Board to its severest finan- cial test, and also to its most remarkable deliverance. Receipts had been falling off during August and September, 1836, so that at the annual meeting of that year the Board was reported nearly $40,000 in debt. Forty-four appointed missionaries were being held back. The meeting said, "Send THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 147 the missionaries by all means ; necessary funds will be pro- vided." So they were sent, and for a while money came in rapidly. But in February an extraordinary financial panic began to press; receipts fell below $10,000 a month the pre- ceding year. Reductions were made; missionaries withheld; letters of appeal were issued. Toward the end of the year the tide turned. At its close the receipts footed up $75,000 more than ever before; the debt had been held down to but $3000 more than the preceding year. While the situation was still anxious, the relief was great. Yet it had been bought at heavy cost. The injury wrought by the retrench- ments of this year on the mission fields has been indicated in preceding chapters. Moreover the detaining of appointed missionaries ready to go to their fields discouraged new candi- dates; years might pass before the missionary spirit in colleges and seminaries would recover from this check. When, the following year, the debt was but little reduced, the strain of the situation became more intense. At length, in 1841, the annual meeting at Philadelphia was prolonged a day that the great question of financing the missions might be satisfactorily settled. The climax to an earnest discussion came when, after prayer and in a stillness that was eloquent of the deep feeling, there was put to every corporate and hon- orary member present these three questions: Will you raise your subscription for the coming year twenty-five per cent? Will you attempt to induce as many as you feel you can prop- erly approach to do the same ? Will you report to the meeting next year what the Lord hath enabled you to do in this matter ? One after another came the replies, all of them affirmative in spirit, some promising fifty per cent increase, others one hun- dred per cent, some even greater increase. A following vote, urging pastors to rouse their people to larger giving, reflects the fact that by this time less emphasis was being placed upon the system of auxiliaries and that churches and Sunday-schools were being directly solicited. 148 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Before adjournment it was further voted to hold a special meeting in the city of New York on January 18, 1842, to learn the result of these measures and to consider what more might need to be done. But when the day arrived the Committee were able to report so large an increase in receipts that the meeting was turned into an hour of thanksgiving and praise. At the close of the year it appeared that all expenses had been met and the dragging debt reduced to the nominal sum of $600. But the problem of finance was not solved with even so loyal an uprising. Some reaction followed; the unsteady character of missionary giving kept the Board swinging between hope and anxiety. The question of expenditure was carefully gone over. A policy of concentration was avowed, which should relinquish all but the more promising stations. When by heavy relinquishments a surplus was reported in 1845 for the first time since 1833, the next year showed a falhng off in receipts; the direct result, it was felt, of this surplus. During the first period of its hfe, though the Board struggled hard over questions of finance, it did not succeed in settling them. It was not till the Board was eleven years old that it took into its own hands the issuance and control of a magazine. The Mis- Journals containing some foreign missionary intel- sionary ligence did indeed precede the Board. But neither Herald ^^e Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, whose first number appeared in 1803, nor the Panoplist, which started in 1805, gave much space to what was really missions, either home or foreign, although a part of the profits of both publica- tions was devoted to missionary purposes. After these maga- ^zines were combined in 1808, under the nam^e of The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine, increasingly more attention was given to missionary news, and in particular to the work of the American Board. In 1818 the name of the magazine was changed to The Panoplist and Missionary Herald, and it became the medium for the Board's publication of its news. Three THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 149 years later it was taken over and became the property and responsible organ of the Board, under its present name. In 1822 the net profits of the magazine, after paying all costs of publication, the editor's modest salary of $1000, and the charge for free copies, amounted to over $1200. For many years the annual reports acknowledged the profits of the Missionary Herald, which were variously applied. Inasmuch as the magazine consisted at first of but thirty-two pages, without illustrations, and sold for $1.50 to a community that had few publications, and no other that traversed its field, this financial success is not so surprising. Even when some- what enlarged and embellished, in 1833, it was capable of more than earning its way, attaining a circulation of over 20,000 copies. To this, its main dependence for circulating the news of the missions, the Board added, in 1841, a smaller and cheaper monthly called The Day spring. In 1849 this Day spring was changed to a pamphlet for ''juveniles," and called the Youth's Day spring, and was so continued for six years; another magazine about twice as large, called The Journal of Missions, was begun for adults in 1850. The first public session of the American Board was in con- nection with the annual meeting in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1826, when a service was held in the Congrega- Meetines ^^^^^^ Church, with an address by a missionary from the Sandwich Islands. The first business meeting in a church edifice was in 1833; not till 1842 was there any large attendance. But by 1858 the Board's annual meet- ings had become significant, with such attendance and interest as marked it as a national society, the agent of a mul- titude of churches and of several great denominations of Christians. It is to be recognized that in the earlier years the meetings, annual and other, of the host of auxiliaries, local, state, and district, kept the missionary fires burning. In another way a widened and deeper hold on Christian hearts was won for 150 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the cause of foreign missions by the setting apart of the first Monday in January as a Day of Prayer for the world. The appeal for this Day of Prayer was first issued by the Board for 1845; a Week of Prayer at New Year's ''that all flesh might see the salvation of God" was later to be asked for from the mission field, and was first observed in 1854. The creation of this first foreign mission board in America impressed the whole Christian world. In Switzerland, central A Stimu- Germany, and some parts of France, as well as in lus to the mother country, the report of its operations Others proved a fresh stimulus to missionary zeal. At home the example was even more directly influential. When Luther Rice, on arriving at Calcutta, withdrew from the Board, he returned to America to promote the forming of the Baptist Missionary Union in 1814. In 1819 the Methodists also organized a foreign missionary society. The Presbyterians provided otherwise. In 1811 the Ameri- can Board had ventured to suggest to the General Assembly the expediency of a Presbyterian society similar to itseK and with which it might cooperate. But the Assembly thought that one society was enough and urged its body of churches to adopt the American Board as their foreign missionary agency. The following year the Board elected representatives of the Presbyterian communion to its corporation and to office, and faced its work with enlarged purpose. In 1826 the United Foreign Missionary Society, in which the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed churches had been cooperating, was merged with the Board, which now affirmed its purpose to be what its name declared it, a truly national and comprehensive foreign missionary society. Thereupon the names of eminent leaders of the Reformed Church in America (Dutch Reformed) also appeared in the lists of the Board's members and officers. Important district or sectional auxiharies were later drawn to the Board; notably in 1834, the Foreign Missionary Society of the Western Reserve, and that of the Valley of the Mississippi; THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 151 in the same year other associations, hke the Central and the Southern Boards of Foreign Missions, were formed by various synods to cooperate with the Board, though not directly auxihary to it. This union of forces worked out admirably, and for the most part happily. But it could not be permanently maintained. Theological and political differences were somewhat , _.^ ®^ accountable for the dissolving of the partnership; but the growth of the several denominations in numbers and resources led many to beheve that more could be accomplished if each should assume full responsibility for its missionary service. One by one these withdrawals came, always with cordial respect, affection, and good-will on both sides. The sorrow at parting was real and deep; the ties of comradeship had become almost too strong to break. I The '^Old School" Presbyterians left the Board in 1837, the 1 Central and Southern Boards in 1839; in 1846, because of differences of opinion as to the Board's attitude toward slavery, some members withdrew to aid in organizing the American Missionary Association. The ''New School" Presbyterians and the Dutch Reformed churches remained with the Board throughout this first period, but withdrew during the next. No less than five great missionary boards thus sprang from this parent society. Within the fifteen years beginning in 1830, nine foreign missionary societies were formed in the United States; added to those already in existence on both sides of the omity in ^^ig^j^^j^^ Ijigy made thirty missionary organizations, whose paths were sure to meet at many points. How should they fare together? The record is in the main most gratifying. They met as comrades, fellow soldiers of one King, divisions of one great army. The early formation of Missionary Unions, like that at Bombay in 1825, composed of members of the London Missionary Society, Church Mis- 152 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD sionary Society, Scottish Missionary Society, and American Board, shows how the missionaries cooperated. The help that the American Board derived in its first ven- tures from the counsel and kindness of the societies earlier in operation, both through their officers and missionaries, was beyond measure. The generous aid of Bishop Turner, of Calcutta, after the fire in Ceylon, in 1831; the prompt support of individual friends of other communions, and of missionary organizations in Europe and England in times of special dis- tress, as in India and Turkey, brought joy beyond the financial relief. And from the beginning, as through all its history, the American Board gratefully recognized the indispensable aid of the great interdenominational auxiharies, the British and American Bible Societies and Tract Societies, whose busy presses filled the hands of the missionaries with weapons for their warfare against ignorance and falsehood. In the main, too, the occupation of fields was respected and the work of each society was left to proceed without inter- ference. Yet not always. Occasionally the zeal of a missionary pathfinder would lead him to trespass, or the tenets of some church would prompt it to disregard the rights of a society whose policy was disapproved. The Roman CathoHc Church was then everywhere intolerant of Protestant missions; wher- ever it found them, it fought them. The High Church party of the Church of England also pushed its way into some fields of the Board to discredit the work of its missionaries, though generally with little permanent effect. The Board's principles in the matter of comity were early formulated (1838), and, so far as appears, with but one or two slips through inadvertence, were scrupulously maintained: to claim no more territory than it could reasonably hope to occupy; the great centers of life and commerce to be regarded as common ground; each society to respect the territorial limits of others; the society that contemplates entering into any large section already partially occupied to communicate first with those already on the field. THE "ROOMS" IN 1860 AND 1910 THE board's building IN PEMBERTON SQUARE THE GENERAL OFFICE IN THE CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 153 Quietly but steadily the Board kept growing during this first period of but little more than a generation. From the Growth basement of Mr. Evarts' house the ^^ missionary During the room" was moved in 1822 to rooms in the second Period stor}^ of a tenement in Cornhill. In 1826 a shift (1810-50) ^g^g jnade to the basement of the Hanover Street Church, of which Dr. Lyman Beecher was pastor. When in 1830 this church was burned, the Board's property was saved and removed again to offices in Cornhill. In 1838 a three- story missionary house was built in Pemberton Square by the investment of some of the permanent funds, and the Board had a home of its own, which it occupied for thirty-five years. The Board needed these larger quarters for it was now a larger institution. Instead of one corresponding secretary and a treasurer caring for both home and foreign administration and gathering gifts from a few auxiliaries, principally located in New England, as was the case in the early years, there were three secretaries of correspondence and a home field divided into thirteen broad districts, covering the whole northern part of the country so far as it was settled, and with field secre- taries in each district. Instead of the nine men who consti- tuted the Board in 1810 there were now 178 corporate mem- bers and between 6000 and 7000 honorary members. Instead of the $1000 receipts of that first year was the record of more than $250,000 received in 1849-50. Instead of an annual meeting held in a parlor, with five members present and one spectator, was the assembling in 1850 in the small but com- paratively remote town of Oswego, N. Y., of a company of nearly 300 men and women from sixteen states, who with the people of the place crowded the churches for three days to hear the story of one more year of missionary history. Hon. Theodore FreHnghuysen was in the chair, fit successor in the fine of Governor John Treadwell; Rev. Joseph Lyman, and John Cotton Smith; Chief Justice Thomas S. Williams was vice-president; the body as a whole, in learning, wealth, 154 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD character, and leadership, was representative of the best life of the country. The American Board had taken its place among the honored and commanding institutions of the land. In 1810 one state organization of a single denomination had ventured to create the Board, though with grave doubts and An Inclu- even outspoken opposition. In 1850 no less than sive Or- four denominations of Christian churches were mak- ganization i^g it their agent and loyally pleading its cause. From the first it interpreted its relation to the churches broadly, refusing to assume ecclesiastical responsibilities either at home or abroad, and accounting itself only the servant of the churches that wrought through it to carry forward their work in accord- ance with the terms on which they were united. While not a voluntary association, or a strictly representative or delegated body, but a corporation, qualified and set to administer its enterprise according to its own best judgment and will, it yet determined from the first to avoid becoming an ecclesiastical court or the tool of a party or sect; its sole business was to carry the gospel, as commonly held by the churches supporting it, to the unevangelized world; and to welcome, receive, and forward men and money offered for its use, so far as available for the purposes intended and in the circumstances of the case. This simple and comprehensive principle of administra- tion, for the most part consistently apphed, enabled the Board successfully to manage its complicated affairs; to deal with various denominations of churches, missionaries of many minds and labels, controversies in the homeland or in mission fields, and whatever perplexing and difficult situations emerged in this period. While thus seeking to serve its broad constituency, the Board was alert to win new friends and supporters and to commend foreign missions yet more widely. During the '40s, when the lyceum was coming to be a notable force in popular education, a scheme was devised for adapting it to THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 155 missionary purpose, and in some cities, as in Boston at the Odeon, under the auspices of a ''Young Men's Society for Diffusing Missionary Knowledge," distinguished hterary men were invited to lecture. At the same time new efforts were made to interest young people. The plans do not seem to have been novel or exciting, but they availed, and a host of juvenile societies were formed to hear missionary stories and reports, to make contributions, prepare garments, and engage in other such chastened joys. The lands that were far off and strange to the founders had come to seem nearer as the years went by. They were more An accessible. ''Verily the earth is helping the woman," Opening says the annual report of 1836. Railroads and World steamboats were multiplying, with their promise of increased facilities of transportation. Not only nearer, as more accessible, but as better known, was the world of 1850. And herein the missionaries of the Board had largely contributed. What prodigious explorers were those early missionaries ; never daunted by any hardship and never satisfied to leave a corner of God's world unvisited if only there dwelt in it any who had not heard the gospel of God's redeeming love! In the description of this period of beginnings it has already appeared with what painstaking the several fields were traversed to determine the best points for occupancy. But beyond the lands chosen and tilled there was wide exploring of fields that for one reason or another could not be undertaken. As one instance of these prospected lands, Patagonia may be recalled. Earlier investigations had been made in Spanish America, and some preliminary work done in South America, particularly at Buenos Ayres. But that not eventuating, in 1833 attention was turned to Patagonia. Her shores were being visited every year by sealers; British explorers were charting the waters of her western coast in the interests of commerce; it was time to inquire concerning her 156 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD most valuable possession, man. Upon a generous offer of transportation, the Board despatched Titus Coan and William Arms on this errand. Landing on the southeastern coast, they spent more than two months in searching it over, only to find few Indians on the eastern shore, the way barred to the west and north, with the necessity of reporting it inexpedient then to attempt a mission to this country. Even beyond where they could yet journey, the eyes of the missionaries peered wistfully; and the Board welcomed every word of news that could be reported as to the frontier lands and the people yet unreached. In 1836 the Committee was collecting information concerning Tibet and the prospect of entering it more safely from Russia than from India. Afghan- istan, also, was in mind, and strong and devoted men were being watched for with a view to these fields. The pages of the Missionary Herald during this period became a storehouse of information gathered by keen-eyed and true-hearted ex- plorers, searching out the lands of darkness and need. In 1812 the Board sent forth eight missionaries, two of the men being unmarried. In 1850 there were 157 ordained The Mis- missionaries, besides teachers, physicians, and wives, sionary 395 in all; and there were 122 native helpers in Force various forms of mission work, a company that in size would have astonished the founders. At first there was little selection of candidates; the number who offered was not large; the work was new and its requirements not clear. But as experience was gained and candidates multiplied, and especially when funds became reduced after the panic of 1837, more care was taken in the appointment of missionaries. It began to be recognized, also, that the great work of the Board's missions was to prepare natives to be the preachers and teachers of their people. Deep and broad foundations of a Christian education and a Christian literature were therefore required, and to that end the really successful missionaries must have eminent gifts and graces. The best that Christian THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 157 culture could produce in America was none too good for the foreign missionary's task. A closer examination of prospective missionaries was then called for; first of all, as to health, since the missions had suffered more from failure at that point than at any other. The conclusion to which the Committee was thus brought by the experience of its opening period of missionary work is worth quoting in full: ''The whole history of our missions demonstrates that their ultimate success depends far more, humanly speaking, on the qualifications of those who form them than upon the number of laborers. A few men, emi- nently holy, and devoted to their work, with vigorous minds, well disciplined, and richly stored with useful knowledge, dis- creet and judicious in their plans and measures, full of esteem and affection for each other, and of compassionate kindness for the perishing heathen, accustomed to steady, patient toil and with physical constitutions capable of sustaining it, will, by the blessing of God, accompUsh far more in training up native laborers, and guiding them in their work, exerting an extensive and commanding influence over the people among whom they dwell, and preparing the way for great and blessed changes in the manners, habits, and institutions of unevan- gelized men than a multitude who do not rise above mediocrity in these respects, or of whom some are very deficient in any of them." In the operation of the missions, also, the experience of forty years developed certain general rules of policy and method. Develop- '^^^ main features of the work were found to be ment of pretty much the same for all fields, despite their Mission marked contrasts of condition. There were always Policy languages to be learned and a Christian literature to be provided, hearers to be sought, disciples to be won, schools to be established; at length, churches to be organized, a native agency to be prepared and set at work, self-support to be encouraged, home and foreign missions to be stimu- 158 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD lated. In one way or another all these lines of effort were to be undertaken by all the missions. But in what way and order, with what special emphasis or variation to suit the particular case, was a matter to be determined on the ground. The wisdom of the founders was shown in that they sent forth their first missionaries with so general instructions, allowing them large freedom of action and requiring the responsibility of decision. As time went on, this policy involved a more definite organ- ization of the missions. When there was but a handful of Mission missionaries closely associated, and all busy at the Organiza- same kind of tasks, there was little need of organ- tioii ization or formal action. They could talk the day's work over and go at it; they could spend the funds in hand as the need was greatest before their eyes; they could draw their own supplies from the common store. But as numbers increased, residences scattered, and lines of work mul- tiplied, as the part of each worker became more specialized and the funds available less adequate to the demand, it became of increasing importance that the mission should be thor- oughly organized and its action regular, businesslike, and decisive. The Board early constituted its missions as communities, and was the only missionary society to adopt that system. As soon as there were three male members in a mission it was expected so to organize, with stated meetings and exact records kept by a secretary. Mission action was to be by majority vote, subject to revision by the Prudential Committee. The mission was then held accountable for the procedure of its several stations and its members. Experience tended to increase the power and responsibihties of the mission in some directions, as it was found they were best able to settle many questions of method and administration; in other fines it led to some restricting of their freedom. The enterprise itself had by the close of this period grown THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 159 marvelously in size and scope. The single mission that in 1813 could scarcely get a foothold in India, the one land that then seemed at all hopeful for such an enterprise, ission j^^^ ^^^ increased to twenty-four, distributed in ten of the great countries of the world. In all these lands a legal standing and a good measure of protection had now been secured. The great object of these missions, the preaching of the gospel, had already been wrought into various forms of mission activity, as observation and experi- ment in the several fields had pointed the way. Besides the direct work of evangelism through preaching and the institu- tion of the Church, the two outstanding agencies that were coming to be used were education and publication. In the field of publication the Board had already accom- plished magnificent results. By 1850 it had twelve printing establishments in operation, issuing publications in thirty languages and with an output of 37,000,000 pages in that one year. Yet these figures give but a poor idea of what had been achieved. The fact is that the missionaries of the Board had already created a literature in all these missions, notably so in Ceylon and India, throughout the Turkish empire and in the Sandwich Islands. For the latter land, as for all the savage peoples for whom they toiled, they had even constructed a written language, with grammar and dictionary already issued or under way. The inconspicuous but monumental labors of gifted men in many of the early mission stations had thus brought unpurchasable help to the uplifting of needy peoples and permanent honor to the Board. In the field of education, this same year 1850 showed 21,700 scholars in the free schools of the Board (one-half in the Sand- wich Islands), 700 or 800 students in the higher boarding- schools of the several fields, and a half dozen training-schools preparing teachers and preachers. Here, also, the figures show the least part of the accomplishment. For what had been greatly done in this period was to awaken a thirst for 160 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD education and the beginnings of a higher standard of living where knowledge and intelUgence were to rule. At the same time, there were gathered into eighty-five churches on the several fields over 25,000 members, nearly 2000 of them added in the year 1850, which churches were then contributing nearly $10,000 toward the support of this mission work. But the numbers being reached and influenced in those lands were far beyond counting, and this circle of in- fluence was ever widening. So established had the Board's enterprise become, so mani- fest the results, so assured the main policies and methods, that those who watched over it were confident of its larger possibilities. In a paper read at the annual meeting of 1844 on ''The Present Duty of the Church to the Heathen World," Secretary Treat argued that it was in the power of Christians to evangelize the whole world in less than fifty years. He estimated the Board's share of the non-Christian world at sixty million; he counted upon a rate of increase in missionaries and native workers in successive decades, so that within the appointed time there would be one preacher to every five thousand souls. To finance the plan there would be needed but one cent a day from each communicant in addition to other funds that could be depended upon. It is a significant and sobering fact that thus before the end of the first period into which the Board's history is here divided, it was felt by her leaders that the evangelization of the world might be accomplished two decades before her centennial year. To review the history of the Board's growth during this period is to feel the greatness of her founders. The general- The ship in the homeland was as marked as the leader- Superb ship abroad. The names of Worcester, Evarts, and Leaders Anderson as secretaries, and of such laymen as Bartlet, Read, Hubbard, Stoddard, and Tappan upon the Prudential Committee recall some of the noblest and most serviceable men that Christian America has known. SAMUEL WORCESTER Secretary, 1810-1821 JEREMIAH EVARTS Treasurer, 1811-1822 Secretanj, 1821-1831 HENRY HILL Treasurer, 1822-1854 GOVERNOR JOHN TREADWELL President, 1810-1820 SAMUEL SPRING Vice-President, 1810-1819 SOME FOUNDERS AND EARLY OFFICERS THE^ PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 161 Their worth to the American Board is beyond reckoning. Secretary Worcester fairly Ufted it into action on the arms of his faith. When the question of commissioning the first mission- aries was up and there was not more than $1200 in the treasury, the other two members of the Committee hesitated. Dr. Worcester declared, ''The Lord has the key; and before the missionaries have reached their field of labor we shall have enough to pay their outfits and continue their support." Dr. Spring repUed, ''Well, brother Worcester, I don't know but it may be so, but it seems to me that you have all the faith there is in the world"; later he added, "I do not know what we should do without brother Worcester. His faith is equal to everything." And to faith was added wisdom. It was all new work. There were no precedents, records, or rules. The example of a few European societies that were still experimenting was their sole earthly guide. Obstacles were enormous; perplex- ities constant and increasing; first attempts seemed destined to pitiful failure. In the midst of it the undismayed vision and ready tact of Worcester shine forth; with him and follow- ing him was Evarts, versatile, prudent, untiring; to his sup- port, with others, came Anderson, the statesman, to meet the more intricate problems of the advancing years. Mistakes were made. Judgment was not always unerring; methods and policies had sometimes to be revised. The marvel is with what prescience the leaders saw the great and abiding principles of missionary work. The Cornwall School was not a success, but the need of training a native agency was justly perceived. Tracts and books appearing from mission presses were not always well adapted for their use, but the primary importance of the printed word was settled once for all. The schoohng offered at first in some fields was hardly that most needed by all the pupils, but the value of education as a means of Christianizing every nation was never to be gainsaid. Indus- trial education may have been unwisely reduced in some fields, 162 STORY OF THE AMERICAN ^OARD as among the Indians and in the Sandwich Islands, but the decision was right, the saintly John Eliot to the contrary not- withstanding, that it is not necessary to civilize a people before beginning to Christianize them. Missionaries may have erred, and with approval from the homeland, in pressing upon their converts a provincial type of thought or standard of conduct, and in failing to make sufficient allowance for the traditions and customs of those whom they were training. It is the other side, however, that is most noteworthy: the breadth of view, the sympathy, tolerance, and tact that appear both in the instructions given those early missionaries and in the way they went about their task. And it is a sufficient answer to any doubt whether their course was on the whole wise, that it won the approval of the high-minded, both among foreign and native observers, and often overcame even the prejudices and opposition of those who had felt themselves rebuked by the new religion. By patient persistence and self-denying devotion the mis- sions won their way abroad. And by the skill, integrity, and zeal of its management the society won its way at home. So that by 1850 the American Board was honored the world around. Its place, its work, its efficiency, its prestige, and its claim were all established. THE WATERING, 1860-1880 The date of beginning worl name of the mission, also the f erring. If the mission waa c! 1860, the date is in parenth Smyrna 1820- 7) Palestine 1821-1845 8) Malta 1822-_ ) Syria 1823-(1870) 10) Nestorian 1834-1870 11) Cyprus 1834-1840 12) Central Turkey 1847- 13) European Turkey 1858- 14) Eastern Turkey 1855- Assyria 1850-1860 THE AMERICAN BOARD THE MISSIONS 1810 to 18G0 Missions existing in 1S60 are marked thus: Madura f^ Missions previously in existence, and either closed or transfered are marked thus: Amo^ n . The political boundaries on map are of the year 1 /^'SiamV\ina n J w^^. S .0 Philippme -5 '• ol « ■ ^1 -J 'Guam C^p^ Islands . Caroline XL region follows the f closing or trans- • transferred after inton 1830- noy 1842-1858 ochow 1847- anghai 1854-1860 >rth China 1860- im 1831-1850 igapore 1834-1843 meo 1838-1852 36 Palmas 1834-1843 iboon 1843-(1870) uth Africa 1835- ndwich Is. 1820-1853 cronesia 1852- .c^rr^ North American _^^ Indian Missions^^ 1 Cherokees 1817- (moved to Arkansas in 1821 & 1837) 2 Choctaws 1818-1859 (moved to Arkansas in 1828) 3 Mackinaw 1826-1836 4 Maumee 1826-1835 5 Allegheny 1826 6 Tuscarora 1826-1860 7 Osage 1826-1836 8 Chickasaw 1827-1834 9 Stockbridge 1828-1848 10 Ojibwas 1831-(1870) 11 Creeks 1832-1836 12 Pawnees 1834-1847 13 Abenaquis 1835-1868 (in Canada) 14 Oregon 1835-1847 15 Sioux or Dakota 1835-{1883) Chapter IX IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON About the year 1850 the situation in the Board's earliest mission field was being closely scrutinized. There was much to observe with joy and gratitude. In that India « ®. ,®^ which had refused to let American missionaries Penod « . . enter m 1813, a score of missionary societies were now at work, occupying 300 stations and expending a mil- Uon dollars a year. And this increased establishment was working under greatly improved conditions. Both government and native peoples wpre more kindly; the progress of civiliza- tion was removing some difficulties. Sati (widow-burning) had been stopped; human sacrifices occurred now only in isolated cases; hook-swinging was still practised; its occurrence was noted occasionally throughout this period and even so late as 1895, but with increasing opposition so that the government finally suppressed it. Native chiefs in the Punjab were coun- seling with officials to stop female infanticide. India was becoming disturbed over her misery; some of her spokesmen even said despairingly that Hinduism was dying. It was a good time to press the gospel of salvation. On its fields the American Board rejoiced in a full share of the general improvement. Yet it was not satisfied simply to A New go on in the same way. The missionaries were Method becoming absorbed in routine work; there was Required danger that they might be overwhelmed with the care of schools and publications, much of this care being over the teaching of secular knowledge and the preparing of secular 165 166 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD text-books. It seemed that preaching was Ukely to be neg- lected and the disposition to reach out and evangelize new districts to be choked. Mr. Hume might declare that "the missionary in the printing-office can do more to make Christ known among the people than ten men could do faithfully preaching daily in the streets and bazaars of the city," but a Hst of pubhcations, with the number of copies circulated, did not furnish a kindling report of a year's work to most of those who supphed the funds for it. The patient siege of a fortress appeals to those who understand the art of war; but battles out in the open and with quicker results are needed to hold the enthusiasm of most onlookers. Both as principle and policy it was felt to be desirable to spread out so that each missionary should be a preacher with a section or parish dis- tinctively his own. To this end some rearrangements in the mission at Ahmed- nagar were attempted so early as 1851. A second church was established there with a separate plant, including schools. Village work was developed, some of the larger places now being made stations, with resident missionaries and a more numerous native agency. The central boarding-schools were to be discontinued that village schools might be stimulated. There were to be as many stations as missionaries; each man was to cover his o^vn district and all the forces of a station were to be concentrated upon evangelism. Before this radical change of policy could be effected the Board sent a deputation to India and Ceylon to study the case on the ground. Secretary Rufus Anderson and Dr. Deputation ^ ^ Thompson of the Prudential Committee landed in Bombay November 2, 1854, and spent almost seven months in careful and protracted conference with the several missions in India and Ceylon. Virtually the whole theory and practise of mission work was gone over. The volume in which were published the proceedings of the depu- tation became an authority in Europe as well as America and IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 167 caused Secretary Anderson to be recognized as a general of first rank in the missionary campaign. The first of the two principal recommendations which the deputation made to the Board on its return was that the Restricting educational work of the mission should be limited the to providing for the Christian community and that Schools teaching should be for the most part in the ver- nacular. As it was now, there were coming to the seminaries and higher schools an ever-increasing number who wished only the commercial benefits of education; they had no liking for Christianity; their presence lowered the morale, made it more difficult to impress Christian teaching upon the other scholars, and tended to secularize the instruction. It was not the mis- sionaries' business to train Hindu boys to earn a better living; the general work of education for India belonged to the State; the Church should not mix in it. The mission schools should be for the children of the mission; the institutions of higher grade should be only for the training of native workers; to them only was there any need of teaching English. So said the advocates of a narrower educational policy. The deputation accepted this view; from what had been already attempted in Ahmednagar it would seem that they went to India with a strong prejudice toward it. In the conferences some missionaries felt that small regard was shown for any other opinion. But, plausible as is the argument and high as is the endorsement of so astute an administrator as Secre- tary Anderson, the judgment of the deputation was wrong, as the event showed. It was a reversal to the principle which Alexander Duff had discredited twenty years before. The advantage of the broader policy for really influencing India and sowing Christian truth wide over the land is now all but unquestioned. To it, as will appear, the Board was at length compelled to return. The second conclusion to which the deputation came was to press the organization of churches together with the accept- 168 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ance of self-support and the creation of a native ministry. Here was the great advance in mission pohcy to which the Establish- deputation brought the Board at the beginning of ingthe this new period. Hitherto the missionaries had Native been slow to entrust any authority to the native Church Christians, who, for the most part, were disinclined to assume responsibility. The missionaries had been pastors of the native churches. And the churches were yet few, located at the mission stations and still composed largely of students in the schools and of mission helpers, most of whom were in one way or another dependent on mission aid. Such a condition was unavoidable in the earlier years; but now, with foundations laid, communities formed, individuals educated, the Bible and other Hterature in the vernacular, and a second generation of Christian youth growing up to efficiency, it was time to constitute the native church as an organism having life in itself that should bring forth after its kind through all the land, or in Secretary Anderson's immortal phrase, ''a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating church." The report of the deputation was clear on this point and convincing. Undisputed now, it was a new and bold pohcy to declare in the '50s; it arrested the attention of other mis- sion boards and at length was accepted by those of the Congre- gational type as being the only justifiable principle by which to transplant vital Christianity from one land to another. These two recommendations of its deputation were not accepted by the Board off-hand. Presented at the annual The meeting at Utica, in 1855, they were referred to a Board's committee of thirteen who entered into corre- Approval spondence with all the missions visited, including those of Syria and Turkey, which Secretary Anderson had inspected on his return journey, and where also it was intended to make these changes of policy. This committee presented a very full and elaborate report at a special meeting held at IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 169 Albany the following March, when the much-discussed pro- posals were at length adopted after considerable questioning and demur. The readjustme. t of work to conform to the new pohcies was promptly undertaken. At Ahmednagar the plans already The outUned were now more fully set in operation. Effect in A tour up the Godavari valley, on which the mis- India sionaries had been accompanied by the deputation during its visit to this station, had revealed the immense oppor- tunity in these regions as yet little touched, and the need of pressing out from the centers to the districts beyond. A fresh impulse was thus given to the work of touring. The situation in the Madura Mission was somewhat different. From the one station, opened in Madura city in 1834, before the deputation arrived there had come to be ten stations, whose missionaries had oversight of a hundred villages scat- tered over a territory larger than the state of Massachusetts. Here each man had his touring bandy or cart, with his portable cot and table, and it was a part of his regular monthly work to go into the outlying regions, not only to visit villages where there were Christian congregations, but those also where there were none, of which one missionary could report ''probably five hundred." So that the need of this field at the time of the deputation's visit was not so much for expansion as for thor- ough cultivation. The service which the visitors rendered to Madura, as else- where, was in urging a larger dependence on the native agency, with a more determined effort to put responsibility on the native Christians, and to provide them leaders from their own number. The missionaries were not strangers to these ideas; they had sounded them in many reports to the Board. But in view of all the difficulties in the way, little progress was making in that direction. It was of advantage that the Board through its representatives should restate and approve the principle and recommend steps to press its more rapid 170 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD operation. The mischief was that in closing the higher schools and reorganizing the system of education they weakened the very forces that were necessary to the end in view. Yet they did put a new emphasis on the evangelist] , side of the work. These results followed their visit: churches increased, which, if small and feeble, "hardly knowing their right hand from their left" ecclesiastically, were yet alive and growing; the EngHsh mission school was discontinued, and the vernacular training of the native agency was pressed. The Ceylon Mission got a quick start, and, under more favor- able conditions than at Bombay, won earlier success. Yet The when the deputation arrived at Jaffna they found Bearing in that the missionaries there had many trials and Ceylon discouragements. After thirty years of labor there was but one congregation in each station, and that composed almost entirely of beneficiaries and paid helpers. These station groups expected the ministry of a missionary; there were no flocks for the native pastors. All the pupils in the girls' schools had been secured by gifts or such inducements as virtually bought their attendance; and Batticotta Seminary, the crown and pride of the educational work of the mission, whose maintenance had cost $100,000, was turning out chiefly candidates for government service, young men without Chris- tian sympathies, whose influence hindered the religious Hfe of their fellow students. There was another side to the story. It was the poHcy of this mission to allow the church members to live in the villages among their non-Christian kindred. The leaven of Christianity, if hidden, was working in the lump. And the influence of Batticotta graduates was in many ways working good for the national life; they were breaking down hurtful traditions and superstitions. Of late, too, a new interest was showing itself in the building of village chapels. Here, as in other missions, the deputation's visit made for a new emphasis upon evangelism and the native church. A IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 171 native evangelical society had been vigorously at work so early as 1851, and was winning converts outside the stations. The service of this native agency was now given greater attention. Batticotta Seminary was reorganized as a training- school for preachers and teachers, and the Oodooville boarding- school for girls was correspondingly restricted. Enghsh schools were cut down and the effort to provide general education for those outside the Christian community was abandoned. After 1855 there were no more "gifts" to pupils in the girls' school. At the same time the mission press was turned over to the natives, and the mission went out of the printing business. The Morning Star, a bi-monthly paper which had gained wide attention for Christianity among educated natives, was con- tinued imder the new control of the press, as it is to this day. So sudden and radical a change in the school system was inevitably depressing. Numbers were greatly reduced; Batti- cotta, which some years before had 160 pupils, began its new regime with sixteen; when English courses were stopped, those who sought only a business education dropped out. As one result, an English high school, entirely under native control, self-supporting and thoroughly Christian in its manage- ment, was started and became immediately successful. Appar- ently it was not necessary to furnish education free in order to secure pupils. On the whole, there was agreement, for a time at least, in standing by the new system. It was believed that Batticotta was to have its own constituency and field of service. To add to the burden in this time of reconstruction came violent epidemics of cholera and smallpox and a prolonged drought. Thousands died in the close-packed villages over which the contagion raged; schools were broken up; relief work became pressing and missionaries were absorbed in it; the mission ''looked like a wrecked vessel." In 1851 the Board began a new mission in India and equipped 172 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD it with ;iiissionaries all from one family. An English society turned over to the American Board its work in the North Arcot The Arcot district, a region containing more than a million Mission, souls, to which Dr. Henry Martyn Scudder was ^851 transferred from Madras, some seventy-five miles to the east. Dr. Scudder's medical skill won attention, and his ability to use the Tamil speech brought him a crowd of hearers whenever he preached in the streets of Arcot. Two years after, he was joined by his brother, William W. Scudder, and three years later by three other brothers and a sister. Three stations were soon occupied. Every member of the mission had been born in India, could speak the language fluently, knew the Indian life and temper, and was by nature a preacher, so that the mission was preeminently evangelistic in its method. Soon the brethren could say, ''The gospel has been fully preached in almost every street of our stations." By 1856 five churches were organized, and a half dozen schools, using only the vernacular, were training the children of Christians. No attempt was made to teach others, though thousands of pupils could have been secured. In 1857, when the Reformed Church in America withdrew from union with the American Board to organize its own foreign missionary society, the Arcot Mission was transferred to it. Thereafter its story becomes a chapter in the noble history of that sister society. The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-58 did not touch the missions of the American Board which were outside the zone of violence. In Ahmednagar, which felt most the general shock ^. to the country, the effect on the people was for a time unhappy, though the regular lines of work, including street preaching, were maintained. One benefit which accrued out of the general horror was the good witness borne by the native Christians. The arguments of many critics of missions in India were then disproved, as, frightened into silence, they watched the course of that incredible mutiny IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 173 and marked, over against the treachery, cruelty, and wild fanaticism of the raw Hindu, the loyalty of the despised native converts. It was not only in that crisis that the testimony was borne. The new man in Christ Jesus was now to be recognized on all these fields. Such an one was Yesuba Powar. When returning from Benares to his home, 800 miles away, in the yellow garb of a pilgrim and devotee, he had won great esteem by bearing on his shoulder all the way a load of Ganges water, something no Mahar had ever done before. But when a few years after- ward he visited Ahmednagar, where he had an elder brother who was a Christian, he soon cast aside his pilgrim dress, declared himself a disciple, and for the remaining years of his life was a loved and efficient preacher of the gospel and a companion to the missionaries on their long tours into new regions. Another shining witness, also named Yesuba and also a Mahar, had been an ambitious and well-to-do cattle trader. When he became a Christian in 1850, his cattle and horses were poisoned until all were gone. But, like Job, he would not deny his Lord. At last his persecutors, finding they could not prevail, let him alone and he resumed his business. Hos- pitable and generous, openly breaking caste, eating and drinking with the lowest Mangs, devoted to his church, of which he became a deacon, he was acknowledged even by his enemies to be a genuine Christian. While such good testimony was being borne within the Christian community, it was winning the approval of intelli- gent and influential observers. In 1859 Lord Elphinstone, governor of Bombay, on an official visit to Ahmednagar volun- tarily came to the mission schools and emphasized his approval of them with a generous gift, as did also his successor. Sir Bartle Frere, in 1863. And when, during the Civil War in the United States, British friends in India joined the native churches in extra gifts that the Board's work might not suffer. 174 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD they expressed their practical endorsement of the work which they had seen with their own eyes. The plague of caste continued to disturb mission life and to hinder Christian progress. A fresh outbreak of this trial Another occurred in the Marathi Mission in the early '60s. Struggle In one of the villages, when a young man from the with Caste Mang caste came to his first communion, the neigh- bors of the Christians filled the rear seats in the chapel to see what would happen, and when all drank of the cup they rushed from the room. In another village a Mang convert made a feast, inviting a catechist and all the church, purposely to test whether they would receive him to fellowship. A bitter persecution ensued, but the Christians did not shrink. Their neighbors would give them neither fire, wood, nor water; they threatened to drive them from the village and their business. Some famihes were broken up by the test, but the Christians stood firm and other Mangs were won. Sometimes the caste- bound onlookers commended the consistency of the Chris- tians' action. When they saw Mahars and Mangs sitting together at the Lord's table, they said, ''This is as it should be; we are now convinced of your sincerity." At this time there were clear signs of a quickening life in the Marathi Mission. Doors were opening throughout both the Konkan and the Deccan. In the Ahmednagar G wth district there were now five stations, and it was proved that village stations could be sustained. The new pohcy of pushing the missionaries out from the few centers was spreading the work; Christians appeared wherever the missionaries turned. Churches were increasing and members multiplying. In the last four years five times as many members had been added as in any similar period before. At the annual meeting of the mission, in 1860, more than 400 native Christians sat down at the table of the Lord. Adher- ents were now coming from all castes, Brahmans, Mahars, Mangs, and Bhils, as well as from the Mohammedans. IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 175 The railroad was helping to extend the mission. In 1861 there was a line from Bombay into the Deccan, and the several stations, including one just established at Sholapur, were all connected by telegraph. The Marathi Mission was now formed out of the hitherto independent missions at Bombay, Ahmed- nagar, and Satara; Kolapur being discontinued as outside the pale of British authority. To meet the responsibihties of this quickened life the mission force was quite inadequate. It had been depleted by deaths Developing and other removals and but slightly reenforced. Native Only seven men were in the field in 1868. It was, Leadership therefore, doubly fortunate that the creation of a native pastorate, which the deputation had urged a decade earlier, now received the hearty approval of the churches. At first they had been reluctant to accept others than mis- sionaries for their pastors; the change of feeling was so sudden and strong as to amount to an epoch in the mission's history. In a short time seven men were ordained in churches to which they were called; their work approved itself to all and the victory was won. This movement carried with it the develop- ment of self-support; the self-governing church should maintain itself. In 1874 the church at Sholapur started as a self-sup- porting body, the first of its kind in the Bombay Presidency. In these and other ways there were unmistakable signs that Christianity was working into the native life and being adapted to its situation and needs. A striking instance of the mingling of the new faith with the old forms appeared in the adaptation by Marathi Christians of the Kirttan, a Hindu exercise in which a gosavi, or religious teacher, celebrates the praises of his god with both vocal and instrumental music. Such an adapted Kirttan was composed by a native Christian on the subject of the Man of Calvary and sung at the mission anni- versary at Ahmednagar in 1862. Here was an avenue to men's hearts particularly adapted to the people of India. All the East loves poetry; the Tamil people, tiring of a plain 176 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD address, would listen willingly to the same thing in verse. In Madura and Ceylon as well as in the Marathi Mission Chris- tian natives began to compose Christian songs. While such advances were being made in the Marathi field, the Madura Mission was rejoicing in a pervasive religious The awakening. The need of it had been a weight on Revival in the missionaries' hearts, the burden of much prayer. Madura, Suddenly the presence of a new spirit was felt. 1860-61 Beginning in an adjoining field of the Church Missionary Society, it soon appeared in the American Board mission near Tirumangalam. Mr. Merrick found there in January, 1861, such scenes as he had never before witnessed in India, and such as recalled revivals in the homeland. There was great seriousness, a deep sense of sin, earnest inquiry, and the breaking down of barriers. Without warn- ing, at Pasumalai Seminary students were found in tears bewailing their sins. The missionaries sought to quiet excite- ment, but feehngs were too intense to be suppressed. For the remaining days of the school term but little study or work could be maintained. Day and night, teachers and pupils were absorbed in the concerns of religion. So deep and effect- ive was this revival that its force was not broken by the school vacation; its influence was carried to the homes of the pupils, and returned with them at the new term. The girls' boarding-school at Madura was also stirred. Within two years 170 members were added to the churches. The new educational policy recommended by the deputa- tion was loyally attempted and followed for a while. Provi- Develop- sion was made for various grades of students in mentofthe the seminary, and most of the instruction was kept Mission [^ iy^q vernacular. In the effort to develop the village work, new emphasis was put upon their schools. But the situation soon became so unsatisfactory that it was neces- sary to make readjustments. Small boarding-schools, some- times one for each sex, were organized in 1865 at stations IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 177 where there were resident missionaries. Through these station schools it was meant to discover boys and girls of promise who might be trained to be leaders of their people. By 1870 Pasumalai Seminary was made distinctively a theological training-school, and the girls' boarding-school at Madura was transferred thither, to become a female seminary preparing the future wives of native helpers. The native agency was developing fast. By 1868 five classes could be named: pastors, catechists, readers, teachers of boarding and station schools, and masters and mistresses of the common schools. The church life showed the quickening effect of the revival; membership was growing at a more rapid rate; self-support was being pressed. The generous giving of some churches and individuals impressed the missionaries. Many accepted the law of the tithe, which the native helper, Abraham, cham- pioned, quoting as authority his ancestor who gave tithes to Melchizedek. The missionaries here, as in West India, had been encour- aged by the deputation to more systematic touring. The work in the centers was absorbing; it seemed as though they could not attempt more; they called loudly for reenforcements, and for this type, touring missionaries. But not getting them, they went at it themselves. By 1864 they had formed a plan of systematic itineration which looked to the evangelizing of the entire field. So far as circumstances would permit, all the missionaries were expected to engage in it. From June to August they went forth by twos, taking native catechists with them. So they visited over 300 villages and preached to 20,000 persons, distributing books and papers as they had opportunity. A new and rewarding field of labor was thus opened as new territory was explored [and acquaintance widened. Encourag- ing signs appeared that idolatry was losing power in some sec- tions. Few new temples were rising; it was increasingly difficult at the festivals to find those who would draw the 178 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD idol car. In one place a reduction in the size of the car was proposed that it might be draAvn more easily, but this the Brahmans refused. The waning of idolatry did not mean in all cases an inclination toward Christianity. Missionaries found a temper which they regarded as a transitional infidehty, making the time favorable for pressing the gospel. Happy were the men and women called of God to spend their Hves at this task; they marveled that others were not eager to join them. Mission work in Ceylon was now in its second stage. The novelty of Christianity had passed; the zeal of the early con- Upbuilding verts had cooled somewhat, as happens in older in Ceylon, Christian lands. Among the people there was less i860 opposition, but more indifference. Christianity had been given a place in the land with Hinduism and Moham- medanism; it was proper that it should be practised by those who had accepted it, but not pressed upon those of other faiths. The chill of this prevailing temper passed at length as fresh revivals came, not so intense as in earlier years, but more widely effective. The villages all over the field now felt the influence; little by little the churches grew stronger and more efficient. Their liberafity was notable. In 1867 the Batticotta church became independent, two of its members agreeing each to pay a month's salary of the pastor, and a third as much annually as under his old refigion he would pay for ceremonies for his deceased parents. In the year 1867 ten churches were organized, and when another outbreak of cholera came and the station routine was broken up, the missionaries being absorbed in relief work, the care of churches and outlying districts was in good measure assumed by the church members. Native pastors and teachers took increasing direction of work in the villages, even conduct- ing the moonhght preaching services which have been a feature of the work in Ceylon, and maintaining the house to house visitation, also a characteristic of this mission's method. Even in that preoccupied year, 1867, there were 11,000 calls thus IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 179 made by traveling colporters, and more than three times that number of personal conversations with adults in their local fields, while the daily calls of village teachers and catechists reached 13,000 in one station alone. Meanwhile other forms of activity were developing. Dr. S. F. Green, with no such hospital or equipment as every medical missionary now deems essential, was doing important work, conducting a dispensary, preparing medical books, teaching a medical class, and treating over a thousand patients, besides preaching the gospel to all who came within his reach. While, in conforming to the new policy of the Board, the higher schools of this mission had suffered loss both in numbers and influence, the village vernacular schools, sixty in number, were flourishing, with over 2000 pupils in them. The higher schools had found a new and fine career in preparing students for direct Christian work, and the desire for higher general education was again beginning to press its claim. In 1867 the native Christians of different Protestant missions proposed a Christian college; the American Board missionaries were asked to serve as trustees, and the sum of $25,000 was solicited as a fund to start Jaffna College. As the Ceylon Mission moved into the 70s it was evident that it had won a people to the service of Christianity. A Christian Vernacular Education Society, cooperating with the three mission boards in the land, was one signal help to the missionaries; another was a native Evangehcal Society, into which was poured the deepening religious zeal of the churches. This was their ''board of foreign missions," conducting work in the islands south of Jaffna, and holding the hearts of its constituency as surely as does the American Board. The pro- jected Jaffna College was begun in 1872, and its prosperity was immediate, both in students and support exceeding all expectations. By 1878 its certificates were recognized by the principal medical officer in Ceylon as of equal value with the 180 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD India University matriculation certificates. The care of mission schools was now given over to a Board of Education, composed of pastors and laymen, acting in cooperation with the government. When Dr. Levi Spaulding died, in 1873, fifty-four years after he sailed from America, and after rendering longer active service than any other missionary of the Board, he had wit- nessed almost the entire process of a mission, from its planting on a foreign shore to its incorporation into the fife of a people. Limited in area as it was, the Ceylon Mission could probably be said with truth to be "a field thoroughly worked beyond that of any other mission of the American Board." The missionaries began to think that it could soon be turned over entirely to the native church. The Madras Mission since its opening in 1836 had been particularly the headquarters for the publication work for Madras Tamil-speaking peoples. For nearly thirty years Closed, Miron Winslow, its scholar, and Phineas Hunt, its i866 printer, with occasional help from some colleagues, issued a remarkable stream of Christian literature. Winslow's fife work, a Tamil-EngHsh dictionary, the most notable work of its kind at that time in any language of India, was com- pleted in 1862. When, in 1864, after forty-five years of service, Mr. Winslow died at Cape Town, on furlough to the homeland, it was felt that the time had come to close this mission, whose special service was done. The printing es- tablishment, developed until it was valued at $28,000, now passed into other hands, and Mr. Hunt, ''without hesitation," as he wrote, ''and with pure dehght," pushed on to become the printer of the North China Mission. It was in the '70s that the reports from the fields in Woman's India and Ceylon began to tell of new efforts by Work for the women of the missions for the women of the Woman land. In the years preceding it had not been found easy to reach the women through the usual forms of mis- IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 181 sionary work. At length the advent of the Bible woman, a native Christian worker, giving part or all of her time to read- ing the Scriptures and teaching gospel truths in the homes of the people, pointed the way of success. With the organization of the Woman's Board of Missions and the appointment of unmarried missionary ladies, work for women became a dis- tinct department of labor. The way was readily opened for the unmarried women of the mission to visit the homes even of the rich and high caste to instruct the women there. Soon they had created a hunger for knowledge; before long, more calls than could be met came from women of high-caste famihes to be taught to read. The lower castes were likewise fired with a zeal to learn. In a village in Jaffna every woman but one, who was prevented by poor eyesight, was learning to read. Under the direction of the missionary ladies, the number of Bible women rapidly increased. In some of the stations, notably in the Marathi Mission, where no women were em- ployed at first, the wives of pastors and catechists undertook this work so far as home cares would allow. With the touring of the American women into villages for tent meetings, a new interest appeared; in one village they met as many as 800 of their sex. There was special value in reaching the women of Ceylon; for they were the true property holders, real estate being largely the dowry of the women, handed down from mother to daughter, and not to be touched without their consent. To reach the women was to win immense aid in the furtherance of the gospel. That these favored daughters of the West should come to share their blessings with the burdened womanhood of the East made deep impression. In thus addressing more directly the women of India and Ceylon, the missionaries were touching one of the most vulnerable spots both in the religious and social life of these lands. It is a happy and most Christian fact that from the first missionary work in India tended to draw together the different 182 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD bodies of native workers and of Christian churches. In the days of weakness and peril, when the missionaries were com- pelled ''to hang together lest they should hang separately," there were fine examples of fellowship and comity, f Ti '^^ ^^^ ^^ there were on a larger scale, now that the several missions were established and prospering. It was a red-letter day for the church of Christ in India when, in 1871, 150 representative men of the native churches of the region met in Bombay and formed a Christian Alliance to promote their common interests and duties. Again, the fol- lowing year, the American Board was fully represented in the great missionary conference held at Allahabad, where came together missionaries from twenty different societies at work in various parts of the empire. Here all met without distinc- tion; discussion was broad and generous; at the communion service brethren sat together whose denominations were in the homeland separated by fixed barriers. With the spirit of comity and cooperation thus prevailing, the Board could bear more patiently the occasional irruptions into its field by one or two societies, whose interpretation of their mission drove them to disregard the established work of their brethren of other bodies. The advance of the missions in this period was marked in one way by the opportunities to present Christianity to the A Widen- educated classes. Opposition even of the fanatic ing Influ- sort was not bygone. So late as 1868, in the Marathi ence Mission, when two Brahmans, of Sholapur, became Christians, a mob stormed the chapel where they were, beat some native Christians until the blood ran, and carried off the converts as captives. But it was not uncommon to find educated men of the highest caste ready to show courtesies and to give attention to missionaries as they spoke on themes of Christianity. At the same time preaching to the masses of the people was continually developed, and street preaching was pushed with new earnestness, notably in Satara and IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 183 Bombay. The latter city had ever been a hard field to develop by direct missionary work, but even there the evangelistic work was now pushed, particularly by this street preaching. Audiences were made up chiefly of the middle classes; often- times villagers on visits to the city would stop to listen. No controversy or tumult was allowed; if interruptions came, a hymn was sung until quiet attention was restored. In the Madura Mission the poUcy prevailed of village con- gregations as distinct from churches. In many places there had never yet been a baptism, and there were no clear and con- sistent Christian Hves; only a group of weak and needy people, willing to receive instruction, who had left the temple worship and desired to be enrolled as adherents of the Christian relig- ion. By 1870 the effect of this policy was apparent; all the villages of the Madura Collectorate were open to the gospel; during that year 1300 villages were visited, and 70,000 people listened to the Christian message. The value of such itiner- acies grew on the missionaries; some of them produced signifi- cant and encouraging results. So the period closed with Christianity displaying its power against the ancient faiths of the land. Notwithstanding the A Famine fact that few temples were building and some were and a faUing into decay, their revenues declining and pil- Harvest grimages becoming few, Hinduism was by no means dead. But Christianity was tremendously alive, commanding increased attention and winning ever-widening respect. During the years 1876-77 a prolonged drought in South India brought on a desperate famine. At the same time a shortage of funds in the Board's treasury reduced appropriations and added to the embarrassment of the situation. Notwithstanding the increased burden, the unconquerable missionaries essayed the extra task of famine relief. The report for the year told of special evangelistic efforts, visits to heathen homes, and the pushing of itineracies by missionaries and native preachers, who sought to take advantage of the new approachableness of 184 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the hunger-stricken masses. Their reward came the following year in such a religious awakening as the several missions of southern India had never before known. It was estimated that during the year not less than 60,000 idolaters cast away their idols and came under Christian instruction. While in the Madura Mission the impetus was not felt so much as in other fields farther north, yet the awakening here was notable, bringing not only numbers to the churches, but increasing gifts from a Christian community that had been plunged into stiU deeper poverty. Although there came some reaction, as often after such times of revival, the ingathering continued, and the period closes, for this mission as for the others allied with it, in gratitude and good hope. A comparison of the situation in all these fields at the begin- ning and end of this period shows strikingly the change that had been wrought in the emphasis upon the development of the native agency. Putting side by side the figures of 1850 and 1880, it appears that during this generation there was practically no increase in mission stations, but a leap from eleven to 291 in the number of outstations; the Madura Mis- sion advancing from two to 206, and the Marathi from three to seventy. During the same time churches increased more than three fold. Whereas at the beginning of the period there were but twenty-three churches and no ordained or settled pastors, and less than sevent}^ native helpers of all descriptions, while practically nothing was being given by the churches and native Christians toward the support of their institutions, in 1880 there were seventy organized churches, thirty-eight pastors, 155 native preachers, 638 native helpers of all descriptions, and native contributions amounting to between $5000 and $6000. In all the missions some churches were assuming entire support of their pastors, while the schools, especially those of higher grade, were deriving fees and bene- factions from the people they were founded to benefit. Books and papers were now sold rather than scattered freely; the IN BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON 185 general condition of the Christian communities as to homes, clothing, and general prosperity was manifestly improved. Christianity had become estabhshed at the end of the period in a far different sense from what it was at the beginning. Chapter X IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS The number of the American Board's missions among the North American Indians was once as high as fifteen; in the Reduction period from 1850 to 1880 there was left but one of Indian vigorous mission, that to the Dakotas. The dis- cissions continuance or transfer of these missions, begun in 1835, went steadily on in the new period, and from the same causes. In 1858 the mission to the Abenaquis in Canada was suspended because of the dying out of the tribe; in 1859 work among the Choctaws, and the year after among the Cherokees and Tuscaroras, was relinquished on the ground that these tribes were so far civilized and Christianized as to be no longer foreign missionary fields; the mission to the Senecas and the difficult and dwindhng effort for the Ojibwas, upon the withdrawal of the Presbyterians from the Board, in 1870, were transferred to their care. An important factor in the decision to close both Chero- kee and Choctaw Missions was undoubtedly the increasing disturbance of the slavery issue; the embarrassment occasioned by the attitude of the missionaries to the Indians in the earlier years was now increased by the action of the tribes themselves. The Choctaw Council in 1854 passed a law forbidding anyone to teach a slave or the children of a slave upon pain of removal from the nation, if he was not a citizen; similar restrictions were made by the Cherokees. If these drastic laws were to be enforced, all agreed that the Board could not continue its work. Efforts were made to proceed quietly in hope that the situation would improve. But the tension did not relax; the 1S6 IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 187 slavery question was growing more divisive and urgent. The missionaries were subjected to an intolerable espionage. As there were now in proximity to these Indian communities other denominations with whom they could form more con- genial associations, the Board felt that it could withdraw from its work without sacrificing the interests involved. In closing these missions which it had maintained for over forty years, the Board had no sense of failure. The expendi- ture had been large; the Cherokee Mission alone had cost $350,000, and 113 missionaries, men and women, ministers, teachers and artisans, had put their lives into it. But the returns had been large; among the Choctaws alone 2700 had confessed Christ; the saving influence of Christianity upon the life of that tribe no statistics could express. Not all had been accomplished that had been hoped; undeniably some of the vices of civilization had been adopted along with its arts and refinements; there had been disappointing lapses and mis- behaviors of Indian Christians. The progress of these tribes had been somewhat halting and inconstant; yet, on the whole, they had made real advance. It was not a mournful or humili- ating duty, therefore, to close these missions. They were not abandoned; the Board's work was done; the era of evangehzing was past; it had been demonstrated that the red man, rightly handled, was amenable to the gospel, and, moreover, that the only effectual way of dealing with the Indian was to meet him with the gospel; and not in word only, but in deed and truth. It was an impressive coincidence that the closing of these missions was marked by the passing from earth of that devoted friend and untiring servant of the Cherokee Mission, Samuel Worcester, who died in the mission in 1859. During thirty- five years of service, beginning at Brainerd, in the old Cherokee nation, he had endured, out of love for this people, such hard- ships, suffering, and reproach as no pen can describe. To the privations of a pioneer in the wilderness were added a cruel and unjust imprisonment, the harassment of the govern- 188 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD merit's shifty course with the Indians, and all those interrup- tions, delays, and obstacles which from the beginning had attended mission work among the aborigines. The service which he rendered to the Cherokees is representative of what was wrought among many of the tribes by the men and women who went to them as missionaries of this Board. The preaching of his voice and of his life, the Scriptures and the tracts he pub- lished in the Cherokee tongue, the long influence of his presence with them, his body laid to rest beside their own dead, all were to abide with them in the new times when mission and missionary had both departed. A token of the hold these missionaries had on their people appeared when, in 1873, fourteen years after the withdrawal. Dr. and Mrs. S. L. Hobbs, who had been medical missionaries to the Choctaws, upon repeated request were sent back to them by the Board to help repair the damage of war times. The Board had left then, of its Indian missions, practically but the one to the Sioux or Dakota tribe. Though their The territory was still on the very edge of the frontier, Dakota the white settler was already approaching with Field greedy eyes. In 1851, by a new treaty, all of what is now western Minnesota was ceded to the government, and the removal of the Indians was ordered to the Sioux Reser- vation in the territory of Dakota. The peril and burden of removal confronted the mission as well as the tribe. Five of its six stations were in the region to be abandoned. The open- ing of one of the new stations at Yellow Medicine in the autum*n of 1853 affords a ghmpse of the labor and heroism which these transfers entailed. The journey of Dr. Williamson and the three women and four children in his company took twelve days by boat and six days more overland. The house supposed to be ready for them had not even a roof on it; its interior was but a single room, without stove or fireplace. Yet this was their home during a winter of unusual severity, when a supply-train perished in the snow. For six weeks the house- IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 189 hold lived chiefly on potatoes and hominy. But the missionary was not daunted. "I have never for a moment regretted our coming here/' he wrote; "I never felt more able to pray for the Dakotas, or greater willingness to labor and suffer for the sake of extending Christ's kingdom." When the spring opened and they could move about they found a quicker response than among the Indians left behind. Soon a congregation of twenty, including the chief, attended the preaching services; Miss Williamson had forty pupils in her school. The trans- planted mission throve and grew. A chapel was built at YeUow Medicine without cost to the Board. The Lac-qui-parle station was transferred to Hazelwood, where in 1856 was formed the ^'Hazelwood Republic," a community governed in accordance with a written constitution, and adopting Christian civiliza- tion; a similar community developed at Redwood. The work of reestablishment was thus being bravely under- taken when a sudden outbreak upset all plans and for a time seemed to have destroyed the mission. The storm W ^862 ^^^ ^^^^ slowly gathering. Many of the high- spirited Sioux cherished a deep and growing hatred of the whites. Cheated by traders, driven about by the government, they were ready to be played upon by the medi- cine men and the young braves who lusted for war. The spirit of revolt grew silently. A warning of what might happen appeared in the year 1857, in the tragedy of Spirit Lake, when a roving band of famished Indians raided a settlement and in the fight that ensued killed most of its people. The one relieving feature of the tragedy was the fact that two of the four women who were carried off were recaptured and re- turned to their friends by Christian Indians associated with the mission. Five years later, in 1862, came the terrible uprising that brought on the Sioux war. The situation at the time was very tense. The United States was absorbed in the Civil War; Indian affairs were of necessity neglected. Annuities 190 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD were not paid; rations were delayed; in the pinch of hunger thousands of Indians crowded into the agencies, only to be put off once more with rosy promises, and to be advised by scornful traders to ''eat dirt." Meanwhile stories came of disaster to the Union cause. ''The Great Father was whipped." One day a band of Sissitons broke into the storehouse and began to help themselves. The soldiers turned the howitzer upon them. It looked like war then and there. Only by the good offices of Mr. Riggs was a fight averted. But not for long. In the middle of August trouble broke out again, beginning in a grog-shop in a white settlement. The next morning the uprising was general. The signal was passed for a general massacre. The Christian Indians who had boldly opposed the outbreak in the council were now in danger of their lives; they could no longer protect the missionaries, whose only safety was instant flight. After a long, perilous, and exhausting journey, in which they passed burning stacks and houses in the very path of the destroying Sioux, and yet were marvelously delivered from the hands of their enemies, the refugee party of forty-four at last escaped to St. Paul. Once started on war the Sioux were fiends let loose. They swept the region with torch and tomahawk. It was proper The Church ^^^^ ^^^ action of the government in subduing them in Prison should be stern and decisive. Unhappily the leaders and in escaped, and in the trial of the hundreds of prisoners Camp ^Y^Q were taken and of all those arrested on sus- picion, action was so swift and violent as to amount to a travesty of justice. Even sentences of death were so sweep- ing that President Lincoln felt called upon to revise them. Four hundred manacled Sioux were taken to temporary imprisonment at Mankato, where thirty-eight were executed. The women and children, with the men relieved of suspicion, about 1500 in all, were sent down to Fort Snelling (St. Paul) to a winter camp. It was when the outlook for the mission seemed darkest that the mercy of God appeared in a great and IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 191 genuine religious awakening. It showed itself first among the prisoners at Mankato, but Dr. Riggs, upon going to his family at Fort 'Snelling, found signs of it there. Humbled, disheart- ened, in the day of tribulation the proud Sioux were ready to listen to the gospel of Christ. Both prison and camp became schools of Christian instruction. Those who could read taught the others. A Christian elder of the Yellow Medicine Church, imprisoned on suspicion, was able to serve as an evangelist to his fellow prisoners. Some of the missionaries added their help. In the spring, as a result of that memorable revival, over 200 Dakotas were baptized and added to the church in one day. A similar result came at Fort Snelling. The harvest of that winter was an amazement and joy to the worn mis- sionaries. As the prisoners were removed from Mankato to Daven- port, Iowa, in the spring of 1863, they went in chains to be sure, but freemen in Christ Jesus. As their boat went down the river they could be heard singing the Fifty-first Psalm to the tune of Old Hundred. At this time the winter camp at Fort Snelling was broken and 1300 Dakotas, together with 1800 Winnebagoes, were transferred to a place called Crow Creek on the upper Missouri. The story of their life there, far from their old home, in sickness and fearful mortality, during three dry and pinched years, while waiting for the men to be released from the Davenport prison, and for permission to settle in northeastern Nebraska, somewhat nearer their old land, is one of the pitiful chapters in Indian history. Yet, during all this period of rather idle and unsettled life, neither company abandoned the religion which they had accepted. On the Sunday before they were released the prisoners cele- brated the communion for the last time as a church in prison. And when the reunion came, this strange church of more than 500 members, ex-prisoners and their families, was set up in the new home as the ''Pilgrim Church," so called from the vicissitudes of its history. 192 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Normal conditions being resumed by the location of the Dakotas at their new home, it came to be seen what a The Re- change had been wrought, and that the seeming established defeat had been really a rebirth of the mission. Mission Native leaders and helpers now appeared. Lives sternly disciplined were able to bear responsibility. There were promising youth to be trained, and a Christian civiliza- tion to be developed. Soon new locations were occupied, more stations and outstations begun, churches formed with native pastors, and schools established. In 1867 a "select school" was opened by Messrs. Pond and Williamson at Santee Agency, which grew at length into the Normal Training School, under Rev. A. L. Riggs, and became the center of the Board's educational work for the Indians. The Santee and Sissiton agencies now grew to be established and measurably self-reliant Christian communities. Govern- ment schools reduced somewhat the field of mission schools. New stations were opened, in 1872, to the north at Fort Sully, among a branch of the tribe as yet unreached, and in 1876 at Fort Berthold, still farther north, among Mandans and other tribes much more degraded than the Sioux. In 1882 a committee of the Board, visiting this latter station with other Indian missions, saw here the primitive oval lodges of earth with grass growing on them, and with poles above bearing buffalo skulls and charms against evil. Over the medicine lodge a Sioux scalp dangled. Amid great discouragement Rev. Charles L. Hall undertook the work in this difficult but des- perately needy field, as heathen as any community under the sun. The lot of the Indians in those days was not fortunate for the growth of Christian character. Held as dependents of the government, existing in part on its bounty, tethered on reserva- tions, subject to the orders of shifting agents, and often ill- used by unscrupulous white men, they were constantly tempted or discouraged into misbehavior. Many of the Indian agents IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 193 were helpful and sympathetic to the missionaries. In 1872 the missionary societies were even permitted to name certain agents. The government sincerely tried to correct the abuses of the agency system. Yet many things happened that were disheartening and injurious. At the same time clear gains were made. Secretary Treat, visiting Santee in 1872, was delighted with what he found; the Indians had just received certificates of title to their land, and it was good to see them occupying it like other settlers. The church, notwithstanding many removals, had 225 members, a worthy pastor, and well- appearing, intelligent officers. Ten years had certainly wrought a transformation among the Sioux. At length these Indian churches came into fellowship with their white brethren of the home mission churches. The Congregational Association of Dakota territory p .. , . met at the Santee agency in 1873. When the same year the American Board held its annual meeting for the first time in the Northwest, at Minneapohs, it was on foreign missionary ground of thirty years before. One of the impressive features of the occasion was the attendance of seventeen Dakotas and four Ojibwas with their missionaries; their presence gave point and power to the appeals of Governor Buckingham and Generals Whittlesey and Howard for more vigorous work for the Indians. Another conflict between the Dakotas and the United States authorities, in 1876, did not directly touch the missions or the More communities they were reaching. But it stirred Indian anew the question as to the final disposition of the Experi- Dakotas and raised new apprehensions concerning ments ^j^^ mission work. At this time the desire of the government and people of the United States to find a better way of dealing with the Indians, stimulated as it was by the activities of the Indian Rights Association and kindred organizations, led to the form- ing of certain colonies like the Flandreau, on the eastern border 194 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD of Dakota, made up from Santee in 1877, whose members left their tribal relations to settle on United States land. Receiv- ing 160-acre homesteads and protected with all rights of citizen- ship, they began to farm and carry on other pursuits, to build their churches and schools, and to live precisely hke white settlers. The immediate success of this advance movement gave courage to the missionaries in their task of preparing leaders for the new era and urging homestead rights for the Indian. The organization of a native missionary society in 1877, with the commissioning of Rev. David Greycloud to break new The ground at Standing Rock Agency, was a sign of a Maturing growth in the Dakota churches. Another mile-stone Work in the history was the appearance of the entire Bible in the Dakota language in 1879. A few days afterward the veteran Dr. WiUiamson, who had a large part in the trans- lation of the Old Testament, having closed the crowning labor of his devoted and arduous career, fell on sleep. He had seen the transformation of savage hordes into Christian communities, and he had been privileged to have an eminent part in the accomplishment of this change. After a careful investigation of the Indian fields, in 1882, by a deputation consisting of Dr. A. C. Thompson, C. C. Burr, Esq., and Secretary John O. Means, they presented an exceed- ingly full and informing report to the annual meeting of that year. Each of the fields was described at length as to its history, condition, and outlook, the conclusion being reached that the era of foreign missions in Santee and Sissiton was passed, while at Fort Berthold and Devil Lake and Standing Rock, where the Indians were still for the most part in pagan degradation, the work should be pressed with greater vigor. An especial opportunity appeared at the agencies along the Missouri River through the surrender of Sitting Bull and his hostiles; it seemed that once more the plowshare of war had broken the ground for the gospel's harvest. It was therefore IN THE LAND OF THE DAKOTAS 195 recommended by the deputation that if the work at the older stations could be transferred efforts should be concentrated on the others. While the Prudential Committee was thus considering the suggestion of transfer, it received a proposal from the American Missionary Association to take over the work of the entire Dakota Mission on terms that might be mutually agreeable, and with the thought that the Association should thenceforth limit itself to work in the homeland. After deliberation and conference the Board accepted this proposal, and on January 1, 1883, the transfer was made. From that time on the story of this mission to the Dakotas, of its main- tenance, enlargement, and signal achievements, is part of the history of this honored sister society. Chapter XI IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT The firman of 1850, which put evangehcal Christians on a footing with other Christian communities in the empire, was The hailed as a charter of religious Hberty. It soon Changed appeared that not all was gained that had been Situation hoped. The sultan held the execution of the decree in his own hand, and he was in no hurry to act. However, circumstances soon compelled him to enforce it and even to make larger admissions. Another imperial finnan in 1853 required of all governors and other authorities that the charter of 1850 be straitly enforced. The outbreak of the Crimean War the next year occasioned especial alarm to the mission- aries. But their fears were happily dispelled, for, aside from the distraction of thought and some disorder among the more lawless races, this war scarcely interfered with the Board's undertaking. No missionary was driven from his post; no mission establishment was injured. Indeed, the event was to their advantage, as there was forced from the sultan in 1856 the famous Hatti Humayoun, a firman granting full freedom of conscience and religious profession to all his sub- jects. Religious liberty was now secured, at least by decree; if it was not fully granted in fact for long years, the principle was admitted; patience and skilful persistence could secure its operation. The changed attitude of the government toward the work of the missionaries was not so remarkable as was that of the people. In 1830 Smith and Dwight did not find one evan- 196 IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 197 gelical Christian in all their travels over the empire; in 1850 there were known to be ''Protestants" in at least fifty centers Armenia in Asiatic Turkey, and in such number that ten Wide churches were already organized, some of them Open having native pastors. The Armenian reformation, like an irresistible tide, was carrying evangelical Christianity to every corner of the land. Mr. A. H. Layard declared in the British Parliament, in 1853, that there was no considerable place in all Turkey where the influence of this reformation was not felt. The President of the Armenian National Council said to Mr. D wight: ''Now is the time for you to work for the Armenian people. Such an opportunity as you now enjoy may soon pass away and never more return. You should greatly enlarge your operations. Where you have one mis- sionary, you should have ten; and where you have one book, you should put ten books in circulation." The missionaries, working at full speed, were unable to meet the calls. They dreaded the coming of the mail because of their inability to meet the importunities of waiting cities and districts. The Board felt the challenge of this urgent oppor- tunity in a field peculiarly committed to its care and instructed the Prudential Committee to prosecute the Armenian Mission to the utmost. But with much help or with little, the reforma- tion went on. The story of its progress in some of the new and influential centers almost staggers belief. Aintab, scarcely known by name in 1845, had ten years later a church of 141 members; there were more Protestants there than in Con- stantinople. The men who laid the foundations, like Dr. Azariah Smith and Rev. Benjamin Schneider, were master workmen. And Aintab had not only numbers but life. Native evangelists, driven from place to place, carried the gospel to the villages of the district with irrepressible zeal. Men of Aintab went forth to other towns to work at their trades and to preach Christ; they could not be treated as vagrants and everywhere they won a hearing. The first building for worship 198 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD erected by Protestant Christians in the Ottoman empire was the great structure of stone, accommodating more than 2000 people, now the First Church at Aintab. The coming of the reformation to Marsovan and its course there were typical. One of its citizens in 1833 bought in Beirut a few tracts, and read them, not knowing what they were. Years afterward, meeting a missionary on tour, he recognized the similarity of teaching. Not daring to speak out before the Vartabed, he sought the missionary and they prayed together. When Mr. Powers visited Marsovan, in 1851, he met the man and found that the way had been opened for a general welcome. Soon this first inquirer was taken from his bed at midnight and sent to a vile prison; upon his release he stimulated further inquiry as to the new teaching. Another visit from a missionary was followed by a general awakening, which persecution only increased. A copy of the sultan's firman of 1850 at last reached the city and brought protection to the evangelical community. The missionaries did what they could to meet the immense demand of the situation, but were at their wits' end to pro- Laborers vide for the waiting fields. Contrary to hope, the for the great revival of 1857 in the United States did not Harvest increase the supply of missionaries. The closing of an attempted mission to the Jews in European Turkey set free a few workers to reenforce the Armenian Mission. This work for Jews, begun at Salonica, in 1849, by Revs. E. M. Dodd and Justin Parsons, had met with disappointing response. Impressions were gained concerning Bulgaria and Macedonia that were to bear fruit later in a rewarding work in those regions. But the missionaries found the Jews imper- vious to their message. Feeling that they were still the beloved of Heaven, and that their tithings constituted holiness, these people were punctilious in their forms of religion while really worshiping gold. The station at Salonica proved very un- healthy; English and Scotch societies seemed ready and better IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 199 able to work the field, and in 1856 it was decided to with- draw the missionaries to meet the importunate need of the Armenians. In this emergency the demand for native workers and leaders increased. Native students were hurried into the ministry, and still opportunities were being lost for lack of men. New schools for training , native helpers were urged. Bebek Sem- inary became of growing importamce. The Crimean War brought new fame to it and to Dr. Hamlin, its principal. By making bread for the soldiers in the military hospital at Scutari, and setting up a laundry to wash their clothes. Dr. Hamlin won the regard and confidence not only of military officials, but of the people to whom his energy and ingenuity thus opened new means of livehhood. Over $25,000 was cleared from the industries brolight into existence by the Crimean War and conducted by Dr. Hamlin, who made of this sum a building fund, with which thirteen churches were erected to aid in the Armenian reformation. By the close of the war the seminary was rendering notable help in the training of native leaders. Though located at Constantinople, many of its students came from the far interior, and graduates were scattered as widely. Its more than 100 students were ad- dressed in three languages, Armenian, Greek, and English. Two young men who came in 1852 from Diarbekir in the face of tremendous difficulties to gain an education at Constanti- nople were a few years later to be found, one as pastor of the young church at Harpoot, the other filling the same office at Diarbekir. A sweeping revival in the seminary in 1859 won to Christ almost every student hitherto but nominally Chris- tian. The work of native agents thus pushed to the front was highly gratifying; it overcame the misgivings of missionaries as to trusting them with so large responsibilities, and often- times made a powerful impression upon the communities they served. 200 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD The evangelization of the Armenians was now progressing by leaps. Tocat and Cesarea were occupied in 1854; in 1857 Xhe Mr. Dunmore wrote that forty more men were Enlarging needed as teachers and preachers in that region. Field By 1860, houses of worship were secured at Marash, Kessab, and Killis. The people of the last-named place bore all the expense, turning out at night to dig the foundations by torchlight. The rapid expansion soon required a division of the field. After separation into northern and southern Armenia in 1857, in 1860, at the annual meeting of the northern section in Har- poot, a further and threefold division into Eastern, Western, and Central Turkey was effected, which continues to this day. How rapid had been the growth in these years appears in the fact that at Harpoot where this meeting was held, and where there was then a church of thirty-six members, five years before there was not one acknowledged evangelical Christian. Thus by 1861 the field of the Board's missions in Asiatic Turkey was extended practically to its present boundaries, and the gospel was being openly preached from one end of it to the other. Churches and schools were established and even higher education begun. Everything seemed ready for a quick advance; it looked as though the field could be carried by storm. It was not strange, perhaps, that the missionaries in 1860 began to anticipate the time when in that portion of Turkey no increase of missionaries would be needed; the native church would be able to maintain the growing work. And it was not only among the Armenians that missionary effort was undertaken. After the Crimean War, it was possible to remove the mission's book depository from Pera across the Golden Horn into Stamboul, whereupon began a new era for publication. The Avedaper, a religious bi-monthly, was then started under the editorial care of Dr. Dwight, destined to become a permanent institution and in its different editions for various races to have wide influence all over the empire. IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 201 Publications were not only increased, but now were more and more circulated among the Mohammedans, toward whom the eyes of the mission turned with new expectancy. Direct work for them was quietly begun in 1856, Dr. Goodell having shrewdly concluded that the Turks were more anxious to prevent a demonstration than a conversion. Hundreds of copies of the Scriptures were sold yearly to Turks, and by 1860 results were appearing.^ While the Armenian Mission was full of enthusiasm and growing life, Rev. Jonas King was maintaining his lonely and, Jonas as it often seemed, unavailing mission in Greece. King in His career continued to the end one long conflict Greece -^jth the Greek hierarchy. Year after year told the same story, a succession of charges, arrests, trials, impris- onments, and releases. And always Dr. King was pushing his work just as far and as fast as he dared, pausing and even withdrawing temporarily when he must. It seemed in the hour of utmost need there was ever some relief. Officials would listen to his appeal, and suffer him when sick in prison to be removed to his own house under guard. Daniel Webster, as Secretary of State, Edward Everett, his successor, or Min- ister George P. Marsh, by direction of the President of the United States, would utter strong protests to the government of Greece when the missionary was subjected to unfair and oppressive trial. At length, after a particularly outrageous decision of the court against Mr. King, pubHc sentiment turned strongly in his favor; congregations increased, and the reward of patience seemed to have come when the first theological class of six young Greeks and one Italian were preparing for the ministry under Dr. King's instruction. But in a few years there was another arrest and a dragging trial. The eventful year, 1863, brought the election of a national assembly and the enthronement of the Protestant King George. One of the earliest acts of the new ruler was to send ' The narrative of this mission is resumed on page 215. 202 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD for Dr. King to administer the Lord's Supper to him in his palace chapel. It surely looked as though smoother times were in store for this mission. Though during that very year one of Dr. King's books was anathematized, he now felt that he was fighting his last missionary battle. Some promising evangelical leaders were appearing, like Messrs. Kalopathakes and Constantine, so that the missionary's energies during his closing years could be devoted to assisting them. At eventide it was light for this man whose day of toil had been storm- swept. At last Dr. King was able to call on the metropolitan bishop, who now received him with all courtesy and friend- liness. In 1869 was summoned from earth this heroic, astute, and unconquerable pioneer of the American Board's missions in the Levant. The turbulent period in the history of the Syrian Mission was not over in 1850. The combination of Turkey's unstable politics and the racial and religious animosities of g . the peoples crowded together in this remote prov- ince did not favor orderly mission work. Lawless chiefs were continually provoking raids in the mountains, so that it was unsafe to venture outside the established centers. An outbreak of Turkish violence at Aleppo, in 1850, for a time broke up all intercourse between the missionaries and the jealous sects of oriental Christians. Evangelical communities were often left exposed to the malice of their enemies, and with disastrous effect. At Hasbeiya, when the villagers came in to a communion service, they were fully armed, and stacked their guns and hung up their swords in the court before enter- ing the chapel. And the difficulties were not all in fear of physical violence. There was a dogged unresponsiveness in the mass of the people hard to combat, one reason for which seemed to be the ingrained religiosity of the Syrians; the most evil-minded and vicious were satisfied with their own piety, so saturated were their customs and language with the forms of devotion. IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 203 In spite of such difficulties, the work went on through the faith and devotion of undaunted souls. Individuals were won; groups of disciples organized; boys and girls of ^ . promise were patiently taught. Simeon Calhoun, now in charge of the school at Abeih which Dr. Van Dyck had opened, was the ''Saint of Mount Lebanon," on whose words Druze sheiks hung enthralled. From his teaching and mighty personal influence was beginning to come a stream of teachers and preachers to bless the region. And this modest seminary was the forerunner and inspirer of higher schools soon to follow. The word of the gospel was also being distributed far and wide. In 1860 appeared the Arabic version of the New Testament, wherein Dr. Van Dyck had completed the work of Dr. Eli Smith. At once it took precedence over all others, and went forth to win the admiring attention of all Arabic-speaking people throughout Syria, and even beyond, in Arabia itself, and in Egypt. In the same year Dr. William Thomson brought out his famous work. The Land and the Book, which quickened interest not only in the Bible, but in the peoples for whom its author had labored. By such aids and methods Protestant communities were slowly built up. A glimpse which one missionary gives of a church service in a little village near Sidon shows in what small and simple habitations the living Church of Christ can abide and grow. ''The room," he says, "was divided, by a slight difference in the height of the floor, into two parts; in one of which were quartered cattle of various sizes and descrip- tions, feeding and reclining, and in the other we worshiped. The audience was seated upon the floor, round a blazing fire; and as there was no place but the door for the entrance of the light, so there was no way for the exit of the smoke but through the same convenient opening. And yet I doubt if there assembled that day, in any courtly church at home, more eager listeners than gathered there, or those offering more acceptable prayer than xheir hearts presented." 204 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD It was when conditions of missionary work were tlius slowly brightening that the sky suddenly turned black as night. Syria's Maronites and Druzes in the mountains were at Civil War, each others' throats again; murders and massacres i860 were daily occurrences. Fire and sword swept everything in their path. European nations soon became involved as they championed the cause of one or other of the combatants. Neighboring races were involved, as Kurds and Bedouins. The land was wrung with the madness and horror of the time. Christians of various sects were slaugh- tered by the thousand, even at such centers as Damascus and Baalbec. No missionary suffered any personal injury, and only a few Protestants at Hasbeiya, but now a stream of human want and misery began to flow into Beirut to overwhelm the sympathies of the mission workers. Over 50,000 souls hung upon charity for food and shelter. When the outburst of ancient feuds had spent its fury, all parties began again to persecute the Protestants; they were reviled, driven from business, stoned, imprisoned, threatened, tortured. Some yielded to their tormentors, but many endured. Slowly order was restored, and more peaceful times ensued. Syria at last began to feel the impress of European civiliza- tion, and to covet some of the prosperity and progress !p ® that were found in happier lands. By 1863 the missionaries could report a more peaceful year on the Lebanon. Even Hasbeiya ventured to rebuild its church, burned in the holocaust of 1860. But the scattered flock returned slowly. A widow in 1868 excused her absence from evening service because the houses about her were all in ruins and the hyenas prowled at night! Better days, however, were dawning. Looking back over a decade it could be seen that much progress had been made. The mission had won a standing both with authorities and people; converts were stronger and the mission's equipment greatly improved. In particular, the Syrian Protestant College IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 205 at Beirut was opened in 1864, with Dr. Daniel Bliss as president, substantial friends in America, and a purpose to meet the call of the new times. Year by year henceforth it was to contribute its strain of strong, rich life, not only to the land of Syria, but far and wide, through Turkey, Egypt, and the entire Levant. Five years later a theological seminary was founded at Abeih, with Messrs. Calhoun, Eddy, and Jessup as its instructors. It was as the Syrian Mission was thus entering upon a new period in its life, with fairer prospects than ever before, and with the long, patient labor of years somewhat justified and rewarded, that in the transfers of 1870 this mission, with others, was taken over by the Pres- byterians, with whom it had peculiarly close ties of relation. Its after-history thus belongs to the annals of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbjrterian Church in the United States. Like the Syrian Mission, the one to the Nestorians was destined to be transferred to the Presbyterians in the re- The arrangements of 1870. For it, also, the history of Nestorian this time covers a stormy and burdened period. The Mission announcement in 1851 of an edict of toleration, promising equal protection to all the Christian subjects of Persia, and the liberty to change their religion at will, was at once followed by new and disturbing interferences. The Roman Catholics became more hostile, Persian officials more arrogant and oppressive. Mr. Cochran was seized and robbed by a Kurdish chief, a new and alarming experience for a mis- sionary when touring. The position of the missionaries was fast becoming intolerable when the assassination or deposition of Persian officials relieved the situation. Through this time of fiercer distress, the mission was aided in part by the powerful protection of foreign diplomats, and in yet larger part by the vitality of the gospel in the hearts of the Nestorians. Fresh revivals set forward the work, not only in the seminary, but all over the plain, in Urumia, and the mountain districts. 206 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Responding to the call for education, seminaries for both sexes were filled. The Bible was now translated into the vernacular, and at least 2000 could read it intelligently. In Geog Tapa seventy adults set themselves to learn to read, offering prizes to those who should successfully teach them. Seventy-three free schools, with more than 1000 boys and 150 women and girls, were scattered over the plain. Among the new, unmistakable signs was the liberal giving of the people. All the Nestorians were poor; on the bare mountains, when a man was asked how large was his field, he would say that he sowed a half-capful of grain, or perhaps only a third; if he could say that he sowed more than a capful he was called rich. Even on the plains there was probably not one person worth $2000. Yet here during the pinch of the War of the Rebellion in America the people gave unstintedly out of their utter poverty, in some cases bringing from their store of food or their few heirlooms and ornaments, offering them with outbursts of joy and gratitude. A rapid increase in the number of native workers now saved this mission from collapse. For, despite some valuable reen- The for cements, from 1858 to 1860 there were heavy Native losses that sadly reduced the mission's strength. Preachers xhe poor people pleading for missionaries could not understand why it was so hard to get them. ''Have you not a plenty of men in your great country, the new world?" they said; and mindful of the Crimean War, of which report came even to these lonely mountains, a chief added, ''Are there not thousands of English now fighting for the sultan?" It was a cause for rejoicing that in 1860 the mission could report a band of forty-three native leaders operating twenty- eight outstations. From that time the increase was even more rapid. In 1864 there were but seven missionaries in the field, but there were sixty Nestorian preachers. Some of these proved men of remarkable power, such as Deacon Tama, whose approach to a mountain village brought out the people, IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 207 literally spreading their garments in the way. Old and young would sit and listen by the hour in winter, at morning and evening, to hear him discourse on the love of Christ. To the aid and comfort of these faithful native helpers was added the good-will and support of some of the ecclesiastics, most of all of Mar Elias. When he died, in 1863, it was as though the mission had lost a loved member. Mr. Rhea wrote of him then: ''All these traits of Christlike beauty combined to make a character which, in this weary land, was a constant rest to the toil-worn missionary, — an influence for good, continually streaming forth into the darkness of spiritual death around him. God, who accurately weighs all men, only knows how much his kingdom in Persia has been advanced by Mar Ehas, than whom the Nestorian Church never had a more spiritual and evangelical bishop.'' The influence of this reawakened Christianity now began to be widely felt in the land, and even by others besides the Nestorians. Persian and Kurdish Mohammedans A "Wider Imoression ^^^® ^^^ unaffected by this purer type of Chris- tianity and, under the special care of Mr. Shedd, a quiet and effective work for Moslems was under way. Still the Persian government was not friendly or even tolerant, and, encouraged by the French Jesuits, issued another proscriptive edict against schools and publications. The hostility of the Papists was severe and unscrupulous; whole families even were poisoned by them in the effort to spread terror of the mis- sionaries. The purpose of this mission as of the others at work among the oriental Churches had been resolute not to withdraw con- Growing gregations or to form separate organizations, but Church to strive to accomplish reform from within. So at ^i^® first no evangelical churches had been established, or church rites instituted. By 1854 some converts had joined the missionaries in celebrating the Lord's Supper; at length a general invitation was given to such participation. As all 208 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD could not come to Urumia, little groups gathered in the vil- lages over the plain for this service, which thus formed vir- tually new organizations. Some of these communion seasons were thrilling spectacles, the people gathering to spend the whole day in a sort of religious love-feast, and, at its close, assembling with quiet hearts about the table of their Lord. After conference with Dr. Dwight and Mr. Wheeler, of Harpoot, in 1860-61, the policy of the mission was somewhat changed, as more responsibility was put upon native pastors, and their office was emphasized. It was still hoped to avoid a formal separation from the ancient church; yet it was diffi- cult to prevent a break, and the situation was made more critical by the endeavors of the English High Church party to disrupt the evangelical movement by a reactionary cam- paign. Many of the evangelical communities were eager to withdraw from what seemed the hopeless formalism of their ancient church. Finally, at a general meeting of native helpers, in 1863, a plan was adopted that secured the essentials of a reformed church, and staved off the creating of a new organiza- tion. Now the outlook for continued union seemed more promising. The old missionary spirit of the Nestorians, which had stirred the heart of Stoddard to seek their reclamation, was revived, and in 1870 the first steps were taken toward the larger and outreaching life of the mission to the Nestorians. To mark this wider scope the name was now changed to the Mission to Persia. The same year, 1870, marked the death of Justin Perkins, whose thirty-six years of service covered the entire period from the beginning of the mission to its transfer to the Pres- byterians. Before his eyes a land vast and practically unknown had become famiUar ground to the Christian world; its moun- tains and plains, cities, and villages had all been explored. Over a hundred workers had been trained and sent forth as heralds of the free gospel; seminaries had been equipped; 1000 pupils were gathered in the lower schools; a written language IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 209 and the Bible in the vernacular were a part of his own con- tribution to the higher life of the land. Woven in with this substantial record of accomplishment are abundant and mov- ing stories of Christian heroism, in which conflicts and vic- tories Dr. Perkins' name is written not only as sharer, but as leader. As Secretary Anderson said, he was both prophet and apostle to the Nestorians, warning them, like Elijah, of their besetting sins, and yearning over them with the gospel like Paul himself. This mission, with such a heritage and outlook, the American Board transferred to the Presbyterians, retaining only that portion of the field in the mountains of KurcUstan which was most intimately connected with the Board's other missions in Turkey. For the ten years from 1850 to 1860 that part of the Turkish empire lying between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers Xhe constituted a separate field of the Board, styled Assyrian the Assyrian Mission. This territory had been Mission approached by touring missionaries from the fields on both sides of it, and Mosul was temporarily occupied so early as 1841 as the base from which to reach the mountain Nestorians. It was now reopened as the first station of the new mission to reach the neglected races of that interior coun- try. So unlike were these people in all but name to those of Syria that it was thought that work for them would be better organized as a separate mission. Rev. Dwight W. Marsh reached Mosul in 1850, to be joined the following year by Rev. William F. Williams, transferred from the Syrian Mission. After Mosul, Diarbekir was occupied, far to the north, and long in mind as a strategic point to be gained. A wild and romantic country was now opened up to missionary work, where the people were like their land. The whole course of this mission, indeed, was the record of facing difficulties and dangers such as tested missionary fiber to the utmost. The first arrivals were set upon by Kurdish robbers, and all but 210 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD killed. When Dr. Lobdell in 1852 stopped at Diarbekir, as Mr. Dunmore was showing him about the city, a rabble rushed on them like tigers, beating one and seizing the other by the throat, and, when they broke away, following and stoning them until they escaped. Whereupon the Lobdells closed their visit, pitched their tent on a raft of 120 inflated goat skins, and floated in four days down the Tigris to Mosul. Dr. Lob- dell's comment on this journey reveals the caliber of the man as well as the character of the trip: "The Arabs who swam out upon their skins and the Kurds armed to the teeth upon the shore were alike unable to touch us, as the river was unusually high and swift. We had just fear enough to make the trip interesting." There were a host of such daring adventures involved in the founding of this mission, like the journey of Mr. Marsh through the Jebal Tour, a stronghold of the Jacob- T,. ites in the Kurdish mountains, or Dr. Lobdell's Pioneers . ' visit to Bagdad to confer with the English ambas- sador about the prevailing lawlessness. But the daily round was a succession of wearing and even alarming persecution. Missionaries were continually stoned and hooted in the streets of the city. The story of what Mr. Williams faced at Mosul, and later at Mardin, is one long record of heroic and uncom- plaining service. The one protest is that reenforcements do not come. ''As fast," writes Mr. Williams, in 1856, ''as famine, hardship, sickness, cannon-balls thin the ranks of the allied armies before Sebastopol, others are sent to fill their places; for the nations are in earnest. Will the churches show as much zeal?" The strain upon these pioneers wore them out. Dr. Lobdell, fearless, tireless, winning his way every^vhere by his medical skill, endured but four years of service and died at twenty- eight; Dunmore, hero of Diarbekir, and afterward of Harpoot, a retiring but most dependable man, of whom Mr. Walker, his successor, said, ''There is comparatively little accomplished IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 211 in Diarbekir, Arabkir, Harpoot, and Moosh, which is not, under God, due to this brother," was compelled because of his wife's faihng health to return to the United States in 1856, the year that Lobdell died. With the missionaries suifered all who were associated with them. They, too, endured as seeing Him who is invisible. When a young man of Diarbekir, talented and prosperous, announced himself a Protestant, his bishop tried to bribe him to recant. ''Go tell the bishop," he said, ''that I did not become a Protestant for money, and that I will not leave them for money, even should he give me my house full of gold." Here was a predestined leader soon to go to Bebek, and, on his return, to become the pastor of the new Diarbekir church. With such leaders the work was bound to grow. Persecution seemed only to refine and strengthen the churches. Deep impression was made even on the Turks. Diarbekir showed great increase during the later '50s; Mardin, also, seat of two patriarchates and a stronghold both of the Jacobite and Roman Churches, responded to the new message. The missionaries were full of gratitude and rejoicing in 1860, when these stations were merged with the newly organized Eastern Turkey Mission, and the name of Assyria dropped from the Board's list. The Board began its work in European Turkey in 1858. For some time attention had been turned to this part of the Entering empire as a strategic missionary field. Dr. Hamlin European on a visit to England, in 1856, enlisted the substan- Turkey ^[^i ^id of friends there, notably the Earl of Shaftes- bury and the Turkish Missions Aid Society in the needy and important lands which Turkey held in Europe. It was felt that in this middle ground between East and West, where four millions of Moslems were in close contact with western civilization, and where also the various Christian sects touched western Christianity, there was a field not to be passed over in any effort to carry the gospel into Asia. Moreover, the 212 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Bulgarians, the leading race in the Balkans, ambitious, pro- gressive, and liberty-loving, made a particular appeal to the sympathies of the civilized world. In 1857 Dr. Hamlin, with a representative of the Turkish Missions Aid Society, whose help to the Board in all its missions in this land is alwa3^s to be gratefully recognized, made a tour of investigation and brought back a glowing report. They found a people poor and ignorant indeed, yet thrifty and eager for learning. This would be an expensive mission, admitted the explorers, with different languages, races, and religions to reach, but the doors seemed open and the prospect full of promise. By an understanding with the Methodist Episcopal Church North, of America, the Board took for its share of the land to be cultivated the region south of the Balkans, placing its first missionaries. Rev. and Mrs. C. F. Morse, at Adrianople, a border city. Soon they were joined by Rev. and Mrs. T. L. Byington, the Meriams, Clarks, and Haskells, a considerable reenforcement in numbers and destined to shape the life of this new mission. Though Dr. Byington was not spared to a long term of service, his years in Bulgaria marked him as a leader and true founder. PhiHppopohs was made the second station. As the Moslem peoples were within the aim of the mission's undertaking, it was arranged that one missionary at each station should learn Turkish. But the roseate hopes of rapid progress in the new field were hardly borne out. The eagerness for the Scriptures which had been noted proved not to be a desire ^ , to know them so much as to possess them as a charm. There was little interest in a spiritual religion, and great fear of loss of patriotism by any change of religion. Race jealousies kept the land in turmoil; fear and suspicion destroyed honesty and manly independence. Many vicissitudes, most shocking of all, the shooting of Mr. Meriam by robbers, as he was returning from the mission meeting in Constantinople, in 1862, and the death of his wife from the IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 213 suffering and exposure of the event, entailed a reduction of forces and rearrangement of locations. It was the customary slow foundation work, preparing a literature to meet the situation and establishing schools to train youth. The necessities of these tasks kept the mis- sionaries alert and the success of the schools, notably one for girls at Eski Zaghra, and another for young men at Philippop- olis, put heart in them. These schools also had their trials. Influential parents at Eski Zaghra withdrew their girls when the Protestant character of the school was understood, and in 1867 a mob attacked it, and would have carried off the scholars but for the coolness and vigor of Mr. Morse in with- standing them. Here, too, an appeal to the new law of relig- ious liberty, together with the help of friendly officials, brought good results even from persecution. The school for young men, called ''The Collegiate and Theological Institute," was started in 1860 with the gift of £300 from a friend in England. Beginning with four pupils, in ten years it came to have about thirty students. Under the narrower educational policy, which now dominated the Board's Turkish missions as those in India, it was temporarily closed; then reopened with some shifts of location, until it was finally reestablished in 1871 at Samokov, to which city the Girls' Boarding School was also moved in that same year. Here both schools began a new era of life with larger purpose and accomplishment. So far work in this part of the empire had been administered as a part of the Western Turkey Mission. With the occupa- Xhe tion of Samokov in 1869 there were four stations; Mission the field and the forces were ready now for inde- Organized, pendent life. On June 30, 1871, the initial annual ^71 meeting was held at Eski Zaghra. To this meeting Dr. Riggs brought the first bound volume of the Bulgarian Bible, thus offering to the fourth mission with which he had been connected the fruit of his last twelve years of labor. With this Bible on the table and the little company kneeling 214 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD around it, was formally organized the European Turkey Mis- sion, which, as Secretary Clark, who was present as a visitor, remarked, was the first mission of the Board that from its beginning had the Bible in the language which the people could understand. With the organizing in 1871 of the first evangelical church in Macedonia at Bansko and in 1875 of the Bulgarian Evan- gehcal Society the native agency which from that day to this has been of prime importance in spreading the printed and preached Word over the land, it seemed that the mission had fairly won its way. But opposition and difficulty were not yet cleared from the path. In the fearful times of 1876-78, when Bulgaria became a separate principality through insur- rection and war, the mission suffered a yet more fiery test. The horrible massacres of the revolution and the ravage of the Russo-Turkish war spread terror and tumult through the land. Regular mission work was for the most part suspended; people were hiding in the mountains; missionary families were compelled to retreat to Constantinople. Eski Zaghra was destroyed; Samokov threatened. School premises were patrolled by guards. Turkish officers and neighbors protected the mis- sionaries, but at Eski Zaghra all their possessions were lost; in Samokov, however, their property was saved. Here, as elsewhere in times of calamity, the missionaries became the first and most efficient ministers of relief. The- period closes thus with the work of this mission hardly recov- ered from the excitement of the political revolution. Yet those who could look below the surface of events recognized even then the success of the hard years of laying foundations. The Marquis of Bath, in a volume on Bulgaria pubhshed at that time, paid this significant tribute to the missionaries: ''They have aroused the jealousy and excited the suspicions of no political party. In the darkest times of Turkish rule they relieved the needy and succored the oppressed. No religious test has been imposed on admission into their schools; and there IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 215 is hardly a town in Bulgaria where persons are not to be found who owe to them the advantages of a superior education. The result of their teaching has permeated all Bulgarian society, and is not the least important of the causes that have rendered the people capable of wisely using the freedom so suddenly conferred upon them." The charter of religious liberty, extorted from the sultan in 1856 and published and made the law of the land in 1860, The New ^^^ ^^^ P^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ religious persecution. Some Era for the 0^ the most bitter outbreaks of fanaticism occurred Armenians, in the years immediately following. In 1860 a i860 (See yelling mob of Armenians prevented by violence a p. 201) Protestant burial in Constantinople; in 1861 oc- curred the expulsion of the Coffings from Hadjin, followed by the shooting of Mr. Coffing and his Armenian companions near Alexandretta, as they were on their way to the annual meeting of the mission; at Mardin, Protestants were cruelly oppressed by Roman Catholic and Gregorian ecclesiastics; in 1865 two Christian Moslems were forced into the army and secretly despatched, on refusing to flee; the Porte itself violated its own edict in 1864, when it seized presses, closed book stores, and imprisoned its subjects, in fanatic fear of Christian advances. Notwithstanding such painful and hindering events, ground was gained for the missionary cause in Turkey. Little by little a foothold had been secured. The situation now was far different from that of the pioneers. The advance of the gospel among the Armenians was a continual amazement and joy. When, in 1860, Dr. Dwight made a second tour over Turkey, traversing almost the same ground as in the journey of 1830, he found the improved outward conditions, marked by the telegraph and post-road, not so great as the religious transformation. Whereas then he discovered no sympathy or interest anywhere for his message, he now found centers of light at every stage of his journey. Of these stations as a 216 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD whole he could have said, as he did of Marash, ''This place is indeed a missionary wonder." It was not strange that with this rapid growth fresh dangers should appear. The young churches and slightly trained leaders were not unnaturally flushed with their own p . , success and inclined to be headstrong. Some per- sonal or factional quarrels broke out, as in the Pera church, which for a time was alienated from the mission; divisions were threatened, and the good name of the Protestants and their cause was in danger of being brought into reproach. It was a time requiring careful behavior and a wise policy of administration. The mission faced the situation earnestly. The recent visit of Secretary Anderson had promulgated those ideas of policy that he had advocated in India and Ceylon. The Turkish missions accepted heartily the plan of putting much responsibility on native Christians and native churches. Not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of the Moslems yet to be reached, it was important that the evangelical Armenians should manifest a self-reliant and self-devoted spirit. If these responsibilities of the native church were to be worthily met, the training of a native ministry and the development of theological seminaries was a matter of prime concern. Hitherto the seminary at Bebek had been the training school for the ministry, but by the expansion of the field it was now remote from the large and growing centers of mission work; if students were transported to it, after fife in the capital, they were apt to return unfitted for the poorer conditions of the interior. Moreover, Bebek had stood for a broad idea of education. The influence of Secretary Anderson's revised policy, which sought to discourage English studies even for the native ministry, discredited somewhat the method at Bebek, that before had not been unanimously approved by Dr. Hamlin's colleagues. The proposal was now made to transfer the theological seminary to the interior and to confine IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 217 it strictly to a vernacular school. Dr. Hamlin at length decided to accept an invitation coming from Mr. Christopher R. Robert, of New York, to assist in founding at Constantinople a Christian college, planned to furnish higher education for all races in the empire. Thereupon the seminary at Bebek, after noble service for nearly a score of eventful years, was sus- pended in 1862. In 1865 a training seminary was opened in Marsovan, and the same year the Girls' Boarding School, which had been doing splendid work in preparing teachers and church workers for all parts of the empire, was also moved to Marsovan. In several cases station training-schools were organized, and before long there were beginnings of theological seminaries at such important centers as Harpoot, Marsovan, Marash, and Mardin, with theological classes at half a dozen other places. But for nearly a generation European languages were not taught in the mission schools; most of the instruction was given in the vernacular. The increase in these training-schools indicates how many stations were becoming centers of influence and leadership for The large districts. The growth of some of the mis- Growing sionary strongholds was phenomenal; one year's Stations report in the Western Turkey Mission showed a fifty per cent gain in every line of effort but one. From the stations in the far interior came like stories of rewarded effort. Such good showing was due in part to the number of places newly opened, like Tarsus in Central Turkey, then an out- station of Adana, which reported 100 per cent increase in church and congregation in one year, and Hassan Beyli, a little village in the mountains of that same region, whose men had ''stood in the front rank of theft, robbery, and murders," and were the terror of all travelers in the country until, subdued by the government, they began to desire books and the gospel, and, by 1868, had a regular Protestant community with a native pastor. In many of the older stations the first enthusiasm of the 218 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD reformation was now past. There was some falling off of adherents. To meet the special need of the time there came a series of marked revivals in station after station, increasing the good-will and loyalty of many, deepening and spiritual- izing the religious life of the churches, and preventing both missionary and native worker from becoming absorbed in the mechanical routine of this enlarging work. The revival of 1861 in Marash not only elevated the standard of piety, but quickened the evangelistic zeal of the church. New attempts to reach Mohammedans were made, with special promise in Central Turkey. The revivals of 1866 and 1869 were notable; many were connected with the week of prayer, as at Bitlis, in 1866, where the fire burned through all the deep snows and bitter cold of winter; and at Harpoot that same year, when three of the most prominent men of the community identified themselves with the Evangelicals. And the interest spread over the entire plain. In 1869 there were fresh awaken- ings at many stations of Eastern and Central Turkey; at Marash the week of prayer was described as a jubilee. All this enlargement and development of the fields multi- pUed the need of native leaders as well as the constituency The from which they could be drawn. The greater Native emphasis now being put upon native responsibility Agency reenforced the demands made upon the theological seminaries and the station training-schools to provide a larger force of workers. Under such pressure the Turkish missions became foremost in the development of a native agency. By 1866 the Western Turkey Mission had eighty- nine native helpers. Some of them became conspicuous wit- nesses for Christ, declaring his gospel as much by their renewed lives as by their words; a marvel and rebuke to their neighbors and an example to their weaker brethren, they were the joy and crown of the missionaries' labor. One such man, called ''the prince of colporters," near Nicomedia, not only lost his vineyards and mulberry orchards, but endured violence for IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 219 Christ's sake. When the Uttle church in his village was built, he brought a basket of stones and brickbats, that had been thrown through his windows, to be used in the foundation wall. Of his sufferings he said, ^'The truth in my heart was like a stake slightly driven into soft ground, easily swayed, and in danger of falling before the wind; but by the sledge- hammer of persecution God drove it in till it became immov- able." Shouldering his basket of books, so long as his strength permitted he traversed a wide region by the Black Sea, until it was reckoned that not less than 100,000 persons had heard from his lips the message of the gospel. In Eastern Turkey native preachers were now appearing rapidly. In Harpoot alone, in 1864, eighteen young men, the first class of theological students there trained, entered upon their work. The prominence of this mission herein was due preeminently to Rev. Crosby H. Wheeler who, at Harpoot, was using all the strength of his genius and commanding per- sonality in developing self-supporting churches. The prin- ciples which Wheeler and his associates stoutly maintained were the immediate independence of the churches from mis- sionary control, the establishment in all cases of a native pas- torate, and the right and duty of each church to choose its own pastor and to assume the responsibility of his support. Familiar and generally accepted as these principles are on mission fields to-day, they were not so commonly approved in the '60s; even in Turkey some of the missionaries distrusted them and many of the churches did not wish any such inde- pendence. By 1857, within a decade of the beginning of missionary work at Aintab, the First Church there was main- taining its own pastor; but that was an exceptional case. It took seven years of patient pressure to bring the Harpoot Church to full self-support. But Wheeler never faltered; in season and out of season he preached the gospel of self-sup- porting churches to his theological students. And to the intense energy of this leader was added the statesmanship of 220 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD his quiet but masterly associate, Rev. Herman N. Barnum, the backbone of that Harpoot station. At last they won their case. By 1870 nearly one-half the churches in the Har- poot field maintained their pastors, and the principle of self- support was generally accepted, not for one mission, but for all. This emphasis on native control and leadership required emphasis also upon the education of leaders. Wheeler at jfirst accepted the policy of vernacular education; at Harpoot no English was to be taught to lure pupils into commercial vocations. Schools were kept simple, with the Bible the main text-book, that they might be the agency of a wide religious education. It was the rule always to charge tuition, to put a price on all books and portions of Scripture, to give away nothing, but to teach self-help from the start. The coming of Rev. T. C. Trowbridge from Constantinople to Marash, in 1868, to aid the new theological training-school, brought to the Central Turkey Mission an effective leader in the cause of developing native responsibility. The broad policy of cooperation which then became characteristic of this mission has been an important and growing factor of its success. As the native churches increased in number and power, they began to group themselves in local or district unions for better Advance in cooperation. In 1865 the historic Bithynia Union Organiza- was organized in the Western Turkey Mission; the tionand following year a similar ''Evangelical Union" was Establish- formed in Eastern Turkey. By 1870 the number °^®^* had grown to four. These unions were really mis- sionary agencies of the churches. The Harpoot Union in 1866 undertook a mission in the wild Kurdish country east of Diar- bekir, a heroic undertaking, in which a dozen feeble churches sent forth seven of their choicest young men. At the same time fifty or more outstations were being occupied and worked in the Harpoot field alone. At the capital, as in the provinces, the evangelical cause IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 221 had secured a more substantial hold and new lines of work were opening. The disaffections which had made church work drag for a time in Constantinople were lessening; the outlook was brighter. Reform movements were stirring in the old Armenian Church. A party called the '' Enlightened," named after Gregory the Illuminator, was growing in numbers and force. The founding of a Reformed Armenian Church was projected, and a Reformed Prayer-book had been issued and promptly anathematized by the patriarch. Two new establishments in Constantinople were now con- spicuous witnesses to its occupation by evangelical Chris- tianity. One was Robert College. This institution, founded in 1863, modestly pursued its task, while Hamlin waged his seven years' bloodless war for permission to build on the pur- chased site overlooking the Bosphorus. At last reluctant per- mission was given, and in 1871 its doors were opened to welcome such an influx of students that a new and larger building was at once undertaken. The other establishment was in the heart of the city, the commodious Bible House, thenceforth to be the headquarters of mission work in Turkey and the center of the huge publication enterprise, a force of first magni- tude in the evangelizing of the empire. When Smith and Dwight made their tour of the interior in 1830, they did not hear of one school anywhere for the educa- tion of girls. The women of Turkey of all races ^ and religions were in hard and degrading positions; they were the beasts of burden in the fields, drudges in the house, or idle prisoners in the harem. It was not easy at first for the missionaries to do much for the women, who had little aspiration for themselves, and whose lords and mas- ters rated them scarcely above their donkeys. In the cities, notably Constantinople and Smyrna, there were many educated women, some indeed among the Moslems, so that the offering of educational privileges to women was undertaken by the missionaries almost from the first. A school for girls was 222 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD opened at Smyrna in 1836, though it was not long under mis- sionary control; in 1845 the Female Seminary at Pera in Con- stantinople was under way with eight pupils, and the numbers soon increased. The labors of Miss Lovell and Mrs. Everett in this school, and later of Miss West, stand out in those earlier years as the forerunner of that education of woman- kind by and by to become general through the land. Even at the time its influence spread somewhat beyond the capital. There is a telling picture so early as 1846 of a school for girls in Nicomedia, maintained by an Armenian, Der Haratoon, who worked at his tinner's trade while before his work-bench he ranged his classes of twenty young girls, who read to him their lessons. Early in 1866 Bible women began to be employed in Constantinople, with funds provided by the American Bible Society, and found immediate welcome in Armenian homes. By that time, also, in several stations efforts were being made to teach and train the women. Miss Myra A. Proctor in 1860 had opened at Aintab the Girls' Seminary, which, cele- brating its semi-centennial this year, is the oldest institution of its kind in the interior. But with the organization of the Woman's Boards of Mis- sions this work for women became at once more systematized and developed, and the woman missionary was also touring the land on her particular errand. Mr. Parmelee's account of the experiences of one missionary woman brings out the heroism involved in this new department of effort: ''She had a very small fraction of a room; at night she shared it with four or five members of the family, and during the day her room was the family kitchen, dining-room, and place of all work. To live in this way for weeks, without a moment's quiet, with no place of retirement, with no confidential companion, is a missionary trial which many of us would hesitate to incur." In 1872 the Girls' Boarding School at Constantinople was successfully inaugurated by the Woman's Board of Missions. Great expectations were cherished for this school, which began IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 223 with only two pupils, but no one then dreamed that it would grow to be the important American College for Girls at Con- stantinople. Missionary work in Turkey had not got beyond violent opposition even in the 70s. The Schneiders in Broosa, in Surmount- 1872, had the windows of their house broken by ing Obsta- brickbats; Mr. Baldwin at Manissa was also as- ^^®^ saulted. The Turkish government itself sought to block the progress of the missionaries, especially in any approach to Mohammedans. Even the grand vizier openly declared, in spite of all firmans of religious liberty, that conversions from Mohammedanism must be an impossibility under a govern- ment which rests upon a Mohammedan basis. The year 1873 brought a long drought, with failure of crops and famine conditions, aggravated by an exceptionally cold and snowy winter. The resulting distress was such as the missionaries had never seen in Asia Minor, and all the resources of the Western Turkey Mission were heavily taxed to render some relief. Work at many of the stations was practically blocked. But nothing seemed to stop the evangelical advance. Protestant communities were growing fast in prestige, resources, and purpose. The stir of impending changes in the social and political life of the land gave zest to missionary endeavor. The long-desired station was opened at Van, 'Hhe Sebastopol of the Armenian Church," where, despite intense opposition, in five years (1877) a church was organized, also an evan- gelical society for home missionary work in the outlying dis- trict. The danger of a schism in the church at Diarbekir through the sudden launching of a ritualistic movement was avoided by the skill and patience of the Harpoot missionaries. In Western Turkey Dr. West's medical work was winning wide regard, as his former students, now in practise for them- selves, extended his influence through the region about Sivas. In this field, too, the interest of the missionaries was being awakened in the Kuzzlebash Kurds, a pagan people, lightly 224 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD touched with one form of Mohammedanism. There were happy and cheering signs that racial animosities were breaking down as Greek and Armenian students hved and worked together in the seminary at Marsovan, while at Talas a con- gregation of 300 had been built up, about equally divided between the two races. Near the end of this period, leading up to 1880, the move- ment for higher educational institutions was well under way. The Era of Robert College at Constantinople and the Syrian Higher Protestant College at Beirut had conspicuously Education demonstrated to the Board as to all observers the call for such work. Dr. Wheeler at Harpoot had reversed his views concerning the need of a broad education, and was working night and day to get a college at Harpoot. By 1876 he had secured the basis of an endowment of $50,000, largely by his own and his wife's irresistible solici tings while they were in America. In 1878 this institution, first called Armenia College and afterward Euphrates College, was incorporated with a board of trustees in Massachusetts. Four years earlier another institution, known as the Central Turkey College and located at Aintab, had been chartered, also in Massachusetts, the Turkish government giving its permission in 1878, two years after the first class had been formed. To this new college came Protestants, Gregorians, Moslems, Roman Cath- olics, and Jews, and people of various nationalities and religious beliefs contributed toward its establishment; from the beginning and increasingly the people of the land have shared in its management and work. Dr. Trowbridge under- took to raise funds in America and England. The high schools, boarding-schools, and seminaries, which had been gradually increasing, now served as preparatory schools for the colleges while furnishing training for graduates of village and station schools. The reaction was thus complete from the limited educational policy, against which Dr. Hamlin had contended apparently in vain. IN TURKEY AND THE LEVANT 225 Once more, as the period closed, the Turkish empire was involved in war, in the conflict with Russia in 1877. As in Russo- the time of the Crimean War, so now the mission- Turkish aries could only marvel and give thanks that their War work was little interrupted. Touring was somewhat disturbed, but in the larger centers all kinds of mission activity were maintained. Not directly traceable to this war, though due in part perhaps to the disorders following it, came two significant events in the mission's history. One was the killing of Dr. J. W. Parsons and his faithful attendant as they were on tour among the villages of Nicomedea. The mur- derers belonged to a roving band of Turkomans, whose motive was simply robbery. The prompt action on the part of the authorities and the arrest and punishment of the robbers furnished a wholesome warning, and made more safe there- after missionary journeys through the regions infested by Kurdish bands. Another exciting event, though of different character, belong- ing to this time, was the saving of Zeitoon through the effort of missionaries of the Board. This city of Zeitoon, among the wild peaks of the upper Taurus mountains, had been so long oppressed by the Turks that at last a hundred of its men formed themselves into a band of highwaymen. Presently they returned and captured their own city, robbed the treasury, and drove out the officials. Troops at Marash were waiting for the order to destroy the town, when, upon the request of the English consul. Rev. Henry Harden ventured to go to Zeitoon to confer with the outlaws in possession of it. The record of that heroic embassage makes one of the most thrill- ing stories of adventure to be found anywhere in missionary annals. Its incidents include the hazard of the climb up to the town, when rifles often gleamed from behind projecting rocks; the days of conference over the outlaws' stories of wrongs, ending in the formulation of terms of surrender; the return to Marash, and the effort to get the officials to accept 226 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD a peaceful settlement; the swift ride of Mr. Christie to Aleppo over 130 miles of rough and dangerous road; the orders sent back, dismissing officials and appointing a new governor, accepting the terms and thanking the missionary for his ser- vice. And when the new governor set out for Zeitoon, it was to Mr. Marden that he came for a letter of introduction to the people there, while in the settlement of the troubles the missionaries served still further as intermediaries and as mar- shals to control the city. It was not strange that the rough men of Zeitoon were eager thereafter to sit at Mr. Marden' s feet as he preached to them, or that at Marash the following year there was experienced a gracious revival that brought hundreds into the new life. The years 1850-1880 marked a rich accomplishment for the Board in Turkey: the establishment of great missionary An centers, of strong and aggressive churches, of a Eventful trained and efficient ministry; the renewal and Period development of an educational system abreast of the expanding needs; work for women elevated into a well- ordered and vigorous department; the Scriptures distributed over the empire in all the great languages of the people, and immensely increased influence of the American mission and missionary among all classes of people. When, by the treaty of Berlin, following the Russo-Turkish war, an edict was issued which assured absolute and unequivocal religious liberty to all in the empire, upon the ''voluntary" assurance of the Sublime Porte, and when, at the same time, with the sanction of the great powers, a form of British oversight was provided for Asia Minor, it seemed that a brighter day had dawned for the missions in the Ottoman empire. Chapter XII IN MICRONESIA The transformation of the Sandwich Islands from a land of savages to an ordered nation was now accomplished. In 1851 The New there assembled at Honolulu the first house of Era in the representatives, regularly chosen by ballot at the Sandwich polls; in the same year substantial court-houses and Islands prisons were begun; land titles were protected by a commission; the machinery of a civilized and free state was in operation. The school system was developed and adequate; 15,000 pupils were now enrolled in over 500 schools, four-fifths of them Protestant. The annual expenditure for schools was $43,000; three-quarters of the cost being met by the govern- ment through a labor tax. One-fourth part of the nation was in the membership of the mission churches; 1600 persons were added during 1852 on confession of faith. The gifts of the people for their own religious institutions were steadily increasing; the native church was assuming responsibility under the lead of the growing native pastorate; the proposal of a missionary work beyond these islands that should stir a nobler motive even than self-help was being welcomed with enthusiasm. The missionaries were only exercising oversight, with but partial and decreasing rehance on the Board's aid. The distinctly foreign missionary period in the Sandwich Islands had passed. Already at one-third of the stations the work was really on a home missionary basis; what remained to be done was only what is required in newer or less self- 227 228 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD reliant fields of Christian work in this country. Yet the diffi- culties in the way of the Board's withdrawal were more than at first anticipated. While a transformation had been wthd^ ° wrought, which was in some respects little short of miraculous, so that in 1854 the missionaries could declare that in no part of the world were life and property safer than in the islands, and that murders, robberies, and the higher felonies were unknown, a characteristic indolence and softness of will inclined the Sandwich Islander to flinch before the demand of constant responsibilities and duties. It began to be felt that the education which had been given to him had been too strictly religious, or at least intellectual; that there had been too little training to fit him for the develop- ment of his life in a land where the pressure of home and social standards did not drive to work. An occasional recrudescence of heathenism also made the missionaries halt in their plans for withdrawal, as when there came on Oahu, in 1858, a revival of the hula, the old lascivious dance, which had been stamped out for a generation. The death of Kamehameha III, in 1854, was a blow to mis- sion interests, as the reign of his successor proved reactionary and hurtful. Soon it looked as though the government was digging the grave of the nation. Other adversities came, in an epidemic of smallpox, in 1855, which took 500 members, one-fifth of the whole number, from the First Church in Hono- lulu, and 400, one-third of the membership, from the Second Church, and in the appearance in the islands of a new disease, Chinese leprosy, for which no cure could be found. Contact with the outside world, it seemed, was bound to kill off the Hawaiian race. The missionaries were comforted to think that they were in no wise responsible for these adversities; the depopulation of the islands had indeed been stayed by the coming of the gospel; the loss of sixty-five per cent in the forty-four years preceding 1823 had been reduced to about seven per cent in the seven years before 1860. Yet the dimin- IN MICRONESIA 229 ishing of the native population was another check on the inde- pendence of native Christianity in the islands. It was not until June, 1863, when Secretary Anderson visited the islands and met with the Hawaiian Evangelical Associa- Withdrawal tion, that the closing of the American Board's at Last, mission was accomplished. The time was fortunate 1863 for ^Y^Q action in that another revival of religion had brought into the churches 1500 new members, lifted the gifts of the people to $21,000, and quickened all the life of churches and schools. After three weeks of conference over plans, there was unanimous agreement in the result: the Board was to take full care of its surviving missionaries; the Asso- ciation was to be responsible for home evangelizat.on and for the main care of the new Micronesian Mission; some grants- in-aid as needed were for a time to be made to the Association by the Board. The third mission organized by the American Board was thus judged to have completed its task in forty-three years. The year following there died one of the Hawaiian youths who had wandered with Obookiah to this country, and who had returned with the first missionaries. In his lifetime and before his eyes had been wrought such a revolution as no man would have believed possible who had seen those islands in the day when the youth fled from the horror of them. Wonder and gratitude over what had been accomplished were felt by every fair-minded observer. The Hawaiian Gazette, organ of the government, chance visitors to the islands like Richard H. Dana, Esq., who wrote of them in his famous Two Years Before the Mast, some commanders of United States ships that entered the ports, representatives of other missionary societies who came to study this field, all gave unsolicited testimony as to the marvel they found. One very timely and valued utterance of this sort came in the early '60s, when representatives of the Church of England endeavored to establish in the islands what they 230 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD called the ''Reformed Catholic Mission," and, in their zeal, assailed the work of the American Board with an attack so bitter and persistent as to be a serious embarrassment. Just then Rev. William Ellis of the Church Missionary Society, who, it will be remembered, happily associated himself with the pioneer missionaries on the islands, of his own accord, from love of truth and justice, published The American Mis- sion in the Sandwich Islands : a Vindication and an Appeal, a defense which proved so complete and unanswerable as to cause the collapse of the projected mission. The testimony of another visitor had the weight of an impartial judgment. ''Fifty years ago," said Dr. Andrew P. Peabody, voicing his impression of what he had seen, "the half-reasoning elephant or the troth-keeping dog might have seemed the peer, or more, of the unreasoning and conscienceless Hawaiian. From that very race, from that very generation, with which the nobler brutes might have scorned to claim kindred, have been devel- oped the peers of saints and angels." The brightest evidence of the transformation wrought in the Hawaiians by the gospel was the zeal which they showed ^jjg in undertaking to evangelize other people. The Mission story of their mission to the Marquesas Islands is to the from beginning to end full of romance. The call Marquesas to it came in the sudden appearance of a Marquesan Islands chief, with his Hawaiian son-in-law, asking for mis- sionaries. The islands for which they pleaded were a long way off and their people were notoriously fierce. Of fine physique, they were yet among the lowest savages, hideously tattooed, perpetually fighting, recognizing no law save their cruel tabus, gloating over their cannibal feasts. Yet more Christian Hawaiians than could be accepted offered themselves as missionaries to this forbidding people. When the first curiosity over their arrival was satisfied, these devoted Hawaiian Christians had to face persecution and the long, slow pull of mission work in a savage land. They IN MICRONESIA 231 were constantly forced to witness bloody scenes, and to dwell in the midst of horrid vices and crimes. Yet, with patience and persistence unnatural to their race, they held on until at length they won regard and influence. Slowly the system of tabiis was broken down, thieving was checked, and their own lives and property were protected even in times of violence. The mate of an American ship, as he landed on one of the islands, was seized and about to be killed and eaten, when one of these Hawaiians, Kekela, at the risk of his own life, inter- fered and succeeded in persuading the chief to release him; for which act of life-saving President Lincoln, as he heard of it, wrote a letter of thanks to the brave missionary. The record of this Marquesan Mission is not strictly a part of the American Board's history; but as parents count their children's affairs as their own, it is hard to separate it from the Board's own story. As representatives like Doctors Gulick and Coan visited the Marquesas Islands to see how the work was faring, they ever returned with enthusiastic reports of the skill, faithfulness, and loving devotion of the Hawaiian mis- sionaries. When Secretary Clark visited the Sandwich Islands, in 1870, at the jubilee of the introduction of Christianity, he felt that the most impressive moment in all that celebration was when the work of this foreign mission was presented. "The grandest scene of all, that Jubilee day, was the veteran native missionary Kauwealoha, returned after seventeen years in the Marquesas Islands, where, after the failure of English missionaries and American missionaries, he, with two others, had driven down their stakes and stayed on, through trials and hardships, till he could report four churches of Christ estab- lished, and that 500 men and women had learned to read the story of the cross. And there, on that 15th of June, standing up in the presence of his king, foreign diplomats, old mis- sionaries, and that great assembly, he held aloft the Hawaiian Bible, saying, 'Not with powder and ball, and swords and cannon, but with this loving word of God, and with His spirit, do we go forth to conquer the islands for Christ.'" 232 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD The Mission to Micronesia was begun in 1852, a year earlier than that to the Marquesas Islands. For the latter the Hawai- -pjjg ian Evangelical Association was alone responsible; Microne- in Micronesia the Association and the American sian Mis- Board cooperated. The 2000 "httle islands" that sion, 1852 gQ ^y ^^Q name of Micronesia lie about the equator and west of 180 degrees from Greenwich. They are divided into four principal groups, the Gilbert, Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana Islands, into all of which mission work was at length extended. As the nearest of them are 2500 miles southwest of the Sandwich Islands, and as they stretch 2500 miles from east to west, it was no small enterprise that was contemplated in the proposal to evangelize these neglected fragments of the world. But the first venture did not contemplate the entire task; it was but to make a beginning that might be followed up as God should open the way. Three men with their wives were sent from the United States to plant the mission: Rev. and Mrs. B. G. Snow, and Dr. The First and Mrs. L. H. Gulick sailed from Boston in Novem- Mission- ber, 1851; Rev. and Mrs. A. A. Sturges followed aries Arrive two months later. When the missionaries ques- tioned why the new route by Panama might not be taken, to lessen time and hardship, the secretary's sufficient answer was, "The missionaries to Micronesia, my young brother, need the discipline of a voyage round the Horn." Four wearisome months brought them to Honolulu, where they met a royal welcome. Thence, with two native mis- sionaries selected from those who had offered to go, they sailed July 15 on the schooner Caroline for their unknown home. After sixteen days of close quarters, seasickness, and hard work, they touched at Butaritari in the Gilberts, and were kindly received, but decided to push on 600 miles to Kusaie, the easternmost of the Carolines. Most of the islands of Micronesia are mere coral reefs, rims of land round a central lagoon, with one or more passages to the sea. The soil is IN MICRONESIA 233 thin and barren, though covered with trees; there are no springs or streams; no hills; few birds and flowers. Beasts cannot live on them, and their human inhabitants maintain a meager existence on fish, taro, and the fruits of some trees. A few of the Caroline Islands, notably Kusaie and Ponape, are of basaltic formation and richly fertile. Mountains from 2000 to 3000 feet in height are covered with forests, from which streams flow into lovely valleys; tropical fruits and vege- tables abound; birds and flowers are everywhere. At Kusaie, also, the missionary party was warmly welcomed, the high chief of the island cordially assenting to the proposal that some of the missionaries should locate there. He had picked up a little English from the traders whom he had met, and at once promised to be ''all same father" to the mission- aries. Clad only in a faded flannel shirt, his wife beside him in a short cotton gown, he seemed a humble specimen of royalty; yet he had the love and respect of his people, who approached him on hands and knees, and called him *' good King George." In many ways and to the best of his power he fulfilled his promise of aid. Leaving the Snows and one of the Hawaiians at Kusaie, the Caroline sailed 300 miles stiU farther west to Ponape, a high island and the finest in Micronesia, where the remainder of the party found the way unexpectedly open for their arrival. Three years later, in 1855, came reenf orcements : the Doanes and the Piersons, with more Hawaiian preachers and their wives. The bark that brought the Piersons down touched both at the Gilbert and the Marshall Islands, and some acquaint- ances were gained that afterward led to extending work to them. These pioneer missionaries were face to face with heathenism in its lowest forms. Conditions were not the same on all islands. On the Carolines there were better houses; ^^ , ^ ° the Marshall Islanders were better clothed; the Gilbertese were great warriors. Each group had its own language; sometimes a single island like Kusaie had its particular speech, spoken nowhere else. 234 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD But the similarities were more marked than the differences, especially in character. The Micronesians were all liars and thieves. They were in the main approachable and friendly; markedly kind to strangers; at the same time cruel and revenge- ful by nature and sly in their petty thefts. Their religious ideas, though varying in different sections, were vague and superstitious; they had no formed idols, but set up stones in honor of spirits, with whom they sought to communicate. To them the air was swarming with these spirits, who returned to the earth in human form and wrought injury. Their gods were not loved or esteemed, only. dreaded; all they asked of them was to be let alone. To the missionaries, fresh from Christian America, the look of these raw heathen was appalling. ''The people were nearly naked, sitting or lying around in their huts or in the sun, filthy as possible, appearing more like apes than human beings. I thought I was prepared for all the hardships I should meet, but the question came to me again and again, 'How can I endure life for months and years amid such surroundings as these ? ' And my heart went down, down, lower than my boots, I think! But I wisely kept my own counsel, and put on as bold a front as my companions." Before the new mission was fairly planted there befell some unexpected and heavy disasters. In 1854 came a violent epidemic of smallpox. Brought to Ponape by a ffindran vessel whose sick were put on shore, it was spread by the ignorant natives, who stole the foreigners' clothes. The ravage was terrific; half of the tribe of 2000 perished. When some of Dr. Gulick's patients died, beach combers prejudiced the natives with slanders about the mis- sionaries. A temporary loss of confidence followed, which added to the gloom of the time. At length inoculation tri- umphed; after four months the scourge was stayed and the missionaries regained favor. Scarcely had the smallpox passed when a fire at Ponape IN MICRONESIA 235 destroyed Mr. Sturges' house and all its contents, and com- pelled him and his family to take to the woods for shelter. Next, war broke out between tribes, and robberies, murders, and general recklessness prevailed. The enmity of evil- minded white men who were preying on the credulous natives was an increasing hindrance. Brothels kept by foreigners were an open affront and challenge. Sabbath services were once disturbed by a company of men with loaded muskets, who were trying to recapture some girls that had escaped from one of these establishments. On Kusaie the untimely death of Mr. Snow's Hawaiian associate brought sorrow and added care. The strain of new and arduous labors under such oppressive conditions wore upon the poor missionaries, who at times were almost dis- tracted with the conflicting calls and the burden of providing for their own families. Still gains were made. Native superstitions were gradually broken; the evil influence of depraved foreigners was waning Progress, among the better disposed natives. As the fear Notwith- of the island gods was cast off, there was some standing increase of recklessness and violence, but it was felt that this only marked a transition period. A thirst for education was awakened which gave impetus to the schools. Even the chief officer of the king of Ponape set out to learn to read; "the cooper should teach him how, or he would pound him." All the zeal for schools, however, was not from the purest motive. Some of the scholars would sit patiently for six hours to get a chance to steal. At Kusaie Mr. Snow had a home built for him by the king, who, with his chiefs, was a good listener at the services. The Sabbath was regularly observed and schools were opened that met with great success in teaching English. The isolation of the early missionaries to Micronesia was intense. For months together they would go without any news from abroad; then it would be only a whale ship that 236 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD would put in, and perhaps with all on board indifferent or hostile to the missionary. Mr. Snow waited two years for the The home letters that told of his mother's death. As Morning they scanned the sea in vain, weary men and women Star felt a depression of spirits such as castaways know. Without the upward look of faith and the hand busy at its loved task they could not have endured the loneliness of their lot. For the better protection of the missionaries as well as their comfort, and to make possible the extending of the mission into the other groups, there was need of a missionary ship. So the appeal went forth for the Morning Star; the children of the churches and Sunday-schools were asked to provide for her cost, about $12,000. The money was soon raised, the "children's ship" was quickly built, and she sailed from Boston December 2, 1856. A farewell meeting for Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Bingham, Jr., the new missionaries she was to take out, and attended also by her captain and crew, had filled Park Street Church, Boston, and many friends visited the packet on the cold first day of winter to bid Godspeed to the "Peacemaker," as the Kusaiean natives called the Star. After a prosperous voyage of twenty-one weeks the vessel arrived at Honolulu, and over her and the missionary whom she brought back to his boyhood home there was great rejoicing. It was September 8 when the Star at last dropped anchor in the harbor of Kusaie, and never was the arrival of a ship more opportune. A rebellion had turned the island into a battle-field and put the missionaries in danger; moreover, they were short of provisions and in destitute case. "Our day began to dawn," they said, "when the Morning Star first gladdened our horizon." Taking the Snows on board, the vessel sailed on to Ponape for a mission meeting. Here, too, they found the missionaries reduced to a starvation diet, and the men compelled to look after all the outdoor work as well SOME OF THE AMERICAN BOARD SHIPS 1 HIRAM BINGHAM II 4 MORNING STAR II 2 MORNING STAR I 5 MISSIONARY PACKET (carried first 3 MORNING STARS IV (sttU and missionaries to Sandwich Islands) steam) and v (steamer) IN MICRONESIA 237 as to help in the kitchen and at the wash-tub; accounting it part of their ministry thus to set a good example to the lazy natives whom they could not yet persuade to work. At this mission meeting it was determined to begin work at once in the Marshalls and Gilberts; the Piersons and Doanes Plans for being assigned to the former, the Binghams and Enlarge- Kanoa, the Hawaiian, to the latter. As the Morning °^®^t Star, conveying these missionaries to their new homes, approached Ebon, in the Marshalls, and a fleet of seven- teen boats shot out from the lagoon, boarding nets were put up as a precaution. But when Dr. Pierson called to them, a man in the first canoe cried out joyfully, ''Doketur, Doketur!" He proved to be one of a party of Marshall Islanders whose boat had drifted to Kusaie a year before, where he had come to know the mission. Dr. Pierson's announcement that some of the party were soon coming to be missionaries at Ebon was hailed with delight. The head chief assured them protection, gave them a choice of location, native help in building their house, and warned all not to molest them. Despite the repu- tation of these islanders as treacherous and savage, so that white men for a long while dared not live among them, the mission- aries settled down without fear and in joy to their task. They suffered many annoyances, but no injury save petty thefts. At Apaiang in the Gilberts the missionaries met a similar welcome. This island, like Ebon, was low and barren; the reef at its highest part was only a few feet above the ocean and on the average less than quarter of a mile in width. But as it enclosed a lagoon fifty miles in circumference, there was something of a "field." The missionaries left in these new groups must have felt a pang of homesickness as they watched the Star sail away. Breaking But they settled to their task at once, learning the Ground language, getting hold of the people, exploring their islands, and, so soon as they could make themselves understood, beginning to declare the gospel. The Hawaiians made good 238 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD missionaries. The languages were not difficult for them, espe- cially the Gilbertese. Within six months missionary work was under way. There were plenty of hardships and difficulties in those early experiences. It was hard to get proper food on the low islands; sometimes even fish was scarce. Supplies sent out to them were occasionally ruined in transit; once, as the flour was spoiled, they were without bread for a year. Hardest of all it was when the Gilbert missionaries learned that their long awaited mail had been left by a passing schooner at one of the islands, only to be eaten by the natives, who supposed it was a new kind of white people's food. It was not easy to conduct a service even if one knew the language and had secured a congregation. Mr. Bingham's account of experiences in his early touring suggests the patience and tact that were required. ''As we close our eyes for prayer, one and another shout to those near them, 'Matu, matu!' (Go to sleep, go to sleep!) meaning, 'Shut your eyes.' After a general commotion, in which some bow their faces to the ground, the prayer is offered. At its close, as the missionary opens his eyes, a number begin to shout, 'Uti, uti!' (Wake up, wake up!) and, with a burst of laughter, these rude worshipers sit up again. I begin to preach. But the leading man of the village may break in upon me, by asking if I will not take a pipe. 'I never smoke,' is the answer. Next he may offer me some molasses and water to drink, or the milk of a green cocoanut. Sometimes we tell them that we have not come to eat and drink, but to teach them. It is often better, how- ever, to stop preaching, and drink from the cocoanut, and then go on again. After service we often look up the blind and sick of the village, and teach them in their own houses." So in these islands, also, as before in the Carolines, in the midst of barbarous customs, coarse vices, riotings, and even wars, in which sometimes women fought with men, the stead- fast missionaries kept at their work, declaring a better way and IN MICRONESIA 239 trying to win the people to it. And gains were made. Schools were soon going and a thirst for education developed. At The Seed Ebon, about 1860, Mr. Doane found an astonish- Taking ing eagerness to learn. Out of school hours there Root was almost as much study as during the session, and the children's play even into the moonlit evenings was writing on the sand. The missionary's house was thronged with eager learners; the Httle printing office, also; and in the boats men were spelling words or repeating pages of what they had read. Signs of religious interest and the beginnings of an ingathering were recognized at Ebon. At Apaiang, one June night of 1859, the people broke off from its foundation in the center of their village the great stone which symbolized the chief deity of the Gilberts, and rolled it into the lagoon, clearing away also the platform on which votive offerings were placed. This same year, with the consent of the king, a chapel was built and in March the first Christian sanctuary of the Gilberts opened its doors for worship. Here, too, the printing press was an important factor. Within five years of his arrival Mr. Bingham had ready for publication a Gilbertese version of the Gospel of Matthew and a small hymn book. Soon after, the Star brought down a printing press; the first printer was a castaway sailor who drifted to Apaiang. Meanwhile, at the older stations in the Carolines there was corresponding progress. In 1860, after eight years of waiting, three converts were received at Ponape; soon there p .. were eight more; a second church of six members started in another part of the island. Church buildings were now erected, one of considerable size at the station, and a chapel back in the mountains. Mr. Sturges, returning from a land tour over Ponape, was surprised to find how the light was spreading quite around the island. The most apt to teach among the church members had been sent out far and wide to spend a Sabbath, or a few days, in holding 240 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD meetings and teaching from house to house. The return of these deputations with their reports encouraged the mother church to renewed prayer and effort. At Kusaie it was a cheering day in 1861 when, as a ship was wrecked, Christian natives went with their missionary to her aid, one swimming off to her with a hne, by means of which all on board were saved. In former times all who escaped the sea would have been murdered. A few years later, at Ponape, a yet more eloquent testimony was borne, when a pirate vessel destroyed four whale ships, first giving them over to the natives for plunder; even with so great a temptation, but few of the church members were induced to share in the spoils. A heavy blow came to the missionaries in 1862 with the intimation that, under the pressure for retrenchment occa- Enduring sioned by the Civil War, the Board was considering Heavy the withdrawal of the Morning Star, and even the Trials closing of the Ponape station. Their protests reveal their devotion to these poor islanders. How could they get along without the Star, their one link with the world? Yet, if the vessel must be given up, let it not be assumed that they must withdraw and if the Board could not provide their support longer, they would ask the privilege of seeking some way to maintain themselves rather than desert the islands. As to the suggestion that in the Marshalls and Carolines the native Christians might carry a larger part of the work, the Committee were expecting too much. ''The prospect is more than fair," wrote Mr. Snow, "that we shall have a bow-legged mission, and one half-crippled through life, if you insist on throwing us too early on our own understandings." Happily the necessity for such a hazardous experiment was escaped. Another trial for the Ponape missionaries came in the burn- ing of the church in 1865. At the close of one of the happiest Sabbaths they had ever known at the island, when chiefs never seen before at a service had been in the large congregation, IN MICRONESIA 241 suddenly the drunken chief officer of the king, with a crazed mob at his heels, rushed from the woods and set a torch to the thatch. In a few moments the labor of months was destroyed. But even this cloud had a silver lining. Eighteen large canoes from all parts of the island soon brought 100 loyal men to guard the missionary. ''After two nights of suspense," he wrote, ''surrounded by howling savages, it was good to grasp the hand of love, and see the sympathy and resolve beaming in so many faces, even if these were the faces of heathen." Mr. Bingham writes, in 1863, from Apaiang of a sky full of clouds. "Our two converts have gone back to heathenism, others for whom we entertained great hope have grown cold, and there is not a native of Apaiang or Tarawa upon whom we may look as a friend of Jesus." The king remained friendly and regularly attended service; but on the whole, there seemed to be decline. It was still the time for patient seed-sowing. *'We need most emphatically," said the lonely toiler in that hard field, "touring missionaries — men of much physical endurance; able and willing to live much on what the islands produce; to sleep night after night on the ground; to drink miserable water; to row or paddle many a weary mile to wind- ward, with no native to help; to walk long distances on wide, glaring flats, beneath a torrid sun, after they have left their boat, before they can preach to the natives. Such must be much of the experience of missionaries to the Gilbert islands. But thanks be to God, our Hawaiian missionaries do engage to some extent in this work." On the whole, there was advance; the missionaries recognized it; it was conspicuous to visitors. Rev. J. S. Emerson went down to Micronesia with the Star in 1865, as repre- Still Ad ance sentative of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, to inspect all the stations of the mission. The first stop was at Tarawa, one of the Gilberts, where the work of two Hawaiian missionaries, who had been there about five years, won the visitor's admiration. At Ebon, also, in the 242 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Marshalls, he marveled at what had been wrought: the decent behavior of the people; the prosperous schools; the church gathered out of wild savages. Portions of the Scriptures, besides hymn books, primers, and other books, were now available in all the four languages of these groups. At Ponape in the Carolines more than 200 persons were now openly on the Lord's side; one native tribe had abandoned heathenism to become "missionary." In 1867, at one of the churches, built on the very spot where in 1853 Mr. Sturges just escaped being assaulted and robbed, 100 communicants partook of the Lord's Supper, while 600 Ponapeans looked on. The congre- gations were always most attentive; as one visitor said, ''they gulped it down." At Kusaie there was a Sabbath-school of 118 pupils of all ages, and groups of eager Christians spent quiet evenings working at the Gospel of Matthew or the new hymn book which the Star had just brought them. After ten years' service in these tropic seas, the Morning Star was so worn that it seemed best to dispose of her and to get a Other new vessel. In 1866 a new ''children's ship" was "Morning built, bearing the same loved name and commis- Stars sioned to the same work. Two thousand Sunday- schools contributed; with individual gifts, $28,700 was raised for the new vessel. It was planned that Mr. Bingham, whose prolonged ill health forbade his continuing to dwell in the Gilberts, and who commanded the new vessel on her voyage out, should keep the command and so be able to bring the benefit of his cheer and wise counsel to all the stations of Micronesia. But in 1868 the state of his health compelled a change in the plan and a new captain was found for the Star. Dr. Bingham was thenceforth to reside at Honolulu, if possible making a yearly trip to the Gilberts, but devoting the rest of his. time to his preeminent work of translating the Bible in Gilbertese and of providing all the language aids for its study. Two and a half years later, as the Morning Star was leaving Kusaie for Honolulu, a squall carried her broadside on a reef IN MICRONESIA 243 and she was wrecked. Dismayed by this sudden and per- plexing disaster, the Board delayed for some time the venture of another ship. But the situation of the island missionaries and their work compelled some provision for their need. A third Morning Star, paid for in part by insurance on No. II and in part by fresh contributions from the children, was built in 1871. How glad a sight she was as she came into Ponape harbor on September 13 may be imagined from the fact that Mr. Doane had been for a year the only American missionary in all Micronesia, and that the new vessel brought not only his wife, but other missionaries returning from fur- lough, with Mr. and Mrs. Whitney as reenf or cements. The decade beginning with 1870 found some of the native Christians really prepared to do effective work in opening and Progress maintaining new fields, and the missionary spirit in the was growing. Moreover, the Hawaiian mission- '70s aries were becoming more experienced and more devoted. Butaritari in the Gilberts, which, with Jaluit in the Marshalls, was occupied by Hawaiian missionaries in 1865, by 1871 showed a wonderful change. At first it had been very dark and discouraging; three Hawaiians had been killed by the king; the missionaries were forced to flee from the island; the people seemed completely demoralized. Now it was the brightest part of the Gilbert field. The king's brother, sister, and sister-in-law were members of the church, and the king no longer opposed. The church had doubled its membership within a year. Some of the more prominent members were in training to become teachers. In 1871 effort was made to place Ponapean teachers on Mokil and Pingelap, two neighboring islands of the Carolines. At Mokil they were received, but the king of Pingelap, bribed by vicious white men, would not let them land. However, two Pingelap natives, who had strayed away to Ponape and there studied for some months with the missionaries, went back to their islands as Christians and took advantage of 244 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD their high rank and influence to set up a school and teach Christ. The effect was tremendous; the people cast away their idols, built the largest church in Micronesia, formed new villages round the church and schoolhouse, and when Mr. Sturges visited the island, in 1873, he received a veritable ovation. After this visit to Pingelap the missionaries placed on the Mortlocks, a small group of the Caroline Islands, 300 miles southwest of Ponape, three couples of native Ponapeans who had offered themselves for this foreign mission. One of them was the princess Opatinia and her husband Opataia, whose high character and service had made their names glorious among the Micronesian churches. In thus leaving their homes and the privileges belonging to their rank, to dwell among strange and it might be hostile peoples, that they might preach Christ to those who knew him not, these dusky missionaries certainly stood the full test of Christian heroism. This same year, 1873, marked the coming of age of this mission; twenty-one years before the first missionaries had landed on Kusaie and Ponape. As Mr. Snow and , . Mr. Sturges recalled days of beginnings and the obstacles then in their way, higher and more solid, as they seemed, than the mountains above their heads, they looked about them now with joy and praise at the wonder of the accomplishment : three groups of islands occupied ; 2,500,000 pages of Scriptures and text-books provided in four dialects, reduced to written languages; a training-school for pastors and teachers in each of the three groups, and com- mon schools on every island touched; twenty churches, with 1000 members; home and foreign missions undertaken, with gifts at the monthly missionary concerts of $1000, and the sending forth of ten chosen representatives; native preachers and teachers setting some fine examples to their flocks; and beyond all figures or exact measurements, a new ideal of life set forth, before which the old pagan rites and superstitions IN MICRONESIA 245 were yielding ground and a better civilization taking their place. The feature of special interest and encouragement in these days was the efficiency of the native leaders. The work in the Mortlocks was altogether in their hands and was T ^ \^^ being pushed with admirable zeal and wisdom. In one year the Ponapeans were found to have learned their new language, built meeting-houses, and won congrega- tions. As Opataia, and Opatinia, ''looking every bit a queen," entertained them in a well-ordered home, it seemed to the missionaries as if they must be dreaming. Three churches were organized in the Mortlocks in 1875, and four more in 1876, with nearly 300 members in all, of whom a good report could be given. Eight more churches were organized among the islands in the following year and over 500 members added. The zeal of these young native evangelists in pressing on to new fields, and the spirit of self-denial and sacrifice with which those to whom they brought the light suffered them to move on to the peoples still sitting in darkness, were alike inspiring. At Oniop, one of the Mortlocks, the infant church that had had its teachers but one year, and then only as they had fol- lowed the Star day after day in their canoes, pleading that they be not passed by, let them go in 1877 to answer an urgent call from islands beyond. At first they were not willing, but, after long discussion and a night of prayer, they held a morning meeting by themselves, from which they sent this answer to the waiting missionary: ''Are the teachers ours that we should hold on to them ? They belong to Jesus; if he wants them we would not keep them." Similar scenes were enacted the following year, when the Star, then under command of Captain Isaiah Bray, visited twenty-five islands, to be welcomed with up- stretched hands as a pledge of protection and support. But even in these years of more rapid growth it was not all bright in the island work. While there were such shining examples of transformed character and a widespread dis- 246 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD position to follow the new and better way, there was yet the heavy drag of heathenism and the besetting sins of the tropics. It was not possible that those who had a ows i^gygj. recognized any moral law or practised self-con- trol, save under physical fear, should conform their lives at once and without a fall to the Christian standards of love and purity. It is not surprising, then, that mingled with reports of gains .and encouragements, and inspiring stories of Christian loyalty, should be tidings of another sort, of painful reverses, lapses into heathenism, gross sins of church members, and even of Christian teachers, of islands and stations where work seemed to be for a time at a standstill or even slipping back. The Gilbert Islands were for long the most disheartening field, with their rank heathenism, the bloody quarrels of their chiefs, and their indifferent or defiant attitude to the gospel. So late as 1879, on Tarawa, a year in which there was no white missionary in the Gilberts, one of the four church members being slain in battle was actually eaten by the savages, and the head of another Christian, known as King David, was cut off and carried away for the sake of the teeth, to be used for neck ornaments. The year 1877 was marked in the Carolines by the opening of a new station at Truk, an archipelago of high islands about Pushing in the center of the group, but farther west than to West- any point yet occupied, and having one of the largest ward lagoons in all Micronesia. It was approached with some hesitation as the inhabitants, though of superior build and capacity, were supposed to be specially savage. No canoes came out to meet the missionary party, but as they entered the cove they saw the islanders gathered before their feast house, watching the landing. When Mr. Logan stood up and called the Mortlock salutation, the company rushed down into the water, and, seizing the loaded boat, carried it to dry land. Mr. Sturges' description of what fol- IN MICRONESIA 247 lowed gives a vivid picture of what missionary pioneering involved in the Micronesia of that day. "The king came for- ward and, on being introduced to the captain, took him and the missionary, and led the way up the slope and into the great house and, pointing to the platform on a big canoe, asked his guests to be seated. The crowds rushed in and largely filled up the house. After a few moments the king brought with his own hands a wooden tray, filled with what looked like frosted dumplings, and placed it before us. I was not slow to get out my pocket-knife and appropriate to myself one of these very inviting (breadfruit) dumplings. There was nothing to excite our fears, except that I had noticed on land- ing some few of the natives holding big knives in their hands, not grasping them as if for use, but merely holding them after the Ponape fashion, so I did not dread them. Still it was a relief to have the food so quickly brought, and the leaders on both sides partaking of a friendly meal together, as, on all these islands, to partake of food together is to be friends. ''The crowd being called to order, perfect silence prevailed, and the great object of our coming was introduced. After a few words of explanation the question was put, 'Do you want the teachers we have brought for you to stop on your island ? ^ The king and the chiefs answered in the affirmative." A site was afterward selected for a station, and after full explanations the king and queen and people promised to love and care for Moses and Zipporah, the Ponapean teachers who were to be left on the island. Though a Ponapean by training, Moses was by race a Gilbert Islander, born on a canoe that had drifted out to sea; his first cradle thus suggested his name. The service of these two noble souls in the far island to which they thus committed their lives entitles them to high place in the roll of missionary heroes. After leaving Truk, the Star sailed to the Mortlocks and there left the Logans. Rev. Robert W. Logan, who had come to Micronesia in 1874, and whose missionary career, though not 248 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD long, has caused his name to be cherished with special love and reverence in the islands, had visited the Mortlocks two years The Logans before. So impressed was he with the need of a on the leader in that field that on his return to Ponape Mortlocks he began the study of the Mortlock speech. At length, with his brave wife he was left on the remote and desolate low island of Oniop. At first they lived in a trader's hut; the people stole their goods and threatened their lives; when the goods were almost gone, the chief put the tahu on the foreigners: no one could sell or give them anything that the island afforded. Mr. Logan was of frail physique and fell sick under the privations. At length the last flour was used, the last loaf was half eaten. In that desperate hour a trading vessel touched at the island. After a voyage of eleven weeks, with no shelter but a temporary cabin on deck, so low that they crawled into it on hands and knees, and through whose light thatch both sun and rain beat on them, they entered a New Zealand port. When at last they reached America, and were somewhat restored to health, Mr. Logan disclaimed any heroism in his missionary life. '^ Sacrifices? I do not know that I have ever made any great sacrifices." Of such stuff were the men and women of the Micronesian Mission; in labors, self-devotion, and persistence they sur- passed the coral insects who formed the islands. Questions of the relocation of missionaries were rising in the mission in the late '70s, as it was felt by many that Readjust- the low islands were not healthful and safe resi- ments by dences for foreigners. There were two minds about Experience [^ then, and have been ever since, but it was at length decided at the mission meeting of 1880 that Kusaie should be made the center for the work in the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Ponape for that in the Carolines. It was also felt that the high island of Truk should be occupied by Ameri- can missionaries. The training-schools for the Marshall and Gilbert Islands were now transferred to Kusaie, and it became IN MICRONESIA 249 part of the work of the Morning Star to carry to and fro the pupils selected for this higher education. At the same time the purpose of these schools to prepare teachers and preachers of the gospel was yet more clearly defined. A few years earlier, Dr. C. M. Hyde had been sent by the Board to Honolulu to take charge of the North Pacific Institute, there to train mis- sionaries and a native ministry for Micronesia. Thus at the close of this period the mission was rearranging its plans and force for larger dependence on the native church and the native ministry in the winning to Christ of two thousand islands, not one of which was yet thirty years out of savagery. Chapter XIII IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA The China of 1850 had opened a few ports to the foreigner, but she was hardly cordial to his presence. The missionaries The Door found utmost difficulty in locating in Foochow city. Opens A district magistrate hindered Mr. Peet from rent- Hard ing a room for a street chapel and Mr. Richards from securing a building lot in the eastern suburbs; in the same way he shut them off in another quarter. When, at length, a lot was secured, the neighbors rose in opposition. They treated the missionaries abusively, tore down official notices forbidding persecution, and put up inflammatory posters instead. But the government issued another proc- lamation recognizing the right of missionaries to pursue their work, and threatening with severe punishment all who abused them; whereupon the tumult subsided as quickly as it arose. The northern part of the empire was at this time in the first shock of the portentous T'ai P'ing rebellion, and terror A Dis- and disorder filled the land. With its astounding turbed religious origin and its early superficial association Country with missionary work, this outbreak was not unnat- urally watched with anxiety by the missionaries. Fortunately it did not spread far enough to the south to touch the Board's fields. The capture of Amoy by insurgents in 1853, with its conse- quent siege by the imperial forces, though merely a local dis- turbance, was of greater immediate effect upon the Board's work. During the two and a half months that the siege lasted there was almost daily fighting and the mission residences, being on the water side, were directly in the path of the missiles. 250 IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 251 All of them were perforated by cannon balls. Mr. Doty's house, after the sharpest naval engagement, showed the marks of about a hundred balls of various sizes; the roof was fairly ripped up. Yet all the missionaries escaped harm and there was no serious loss of property. It was a remarkable incident of the siege that many of the insurgents, while they were captors of the city, resorted to the Christian chapels. Hundreds if not thousands were thus brought into contact with Christianity who might never have learned of it otherwise. On the whole, the missionaries in Amoy regarded 1856 as the best year yet in China, with evi- dences of a genuine religious interest which increased the year following, till all the time and strength of the workers were absorbed in holding services, meeting inquirers and candidates for church membership. Far more care, it was felt, was exercised in the examination of these candidates than was customary in the homeland, and far greater confidence was justified in the genuineness of their conversion. Mr. Doty was enthusiastic over their zeal and fidelity. The native workers were his pride. '^ There is not one of our native assistants," he says, "who makes money by connection with us. Several of them renounced situations of considerably larger incomes, willingly receiving a small living allowance for the sake of usefulness among their perishing countrymen." The Amoy Church was now more fully organized, with the choice of deacons and elders; in every way it was a vigorous mission which was transferred to the Board of the Reformed Church in America when the separation occurred in 1857. For some time the American Board had meditated a station Shanghai at Shanghai. This city offered a location farther Opened, north than had yet been attained; it was one ^^54 step nearer to the challenging imperial province of Chi-li. Shanghai was already occupied by other missions, but the open ports were yet few, and there seemed room enough 252 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD for all in those swarming plains of Kiang-su. As they watched the multitudes in this province, the missionaries recalled Dr. Poor's saying, ''The human race is in the East." Even while the T'ai P'ing mobs were spreading desolation over the region, Mr. Bridgman had been busy at Shanghai in translating the Scriptures and his wife had started a board- ing-school there. With the recapture of the city from the vandals (here, also, there was a marvelous escape of missionaries and mission property from the general slaughter), the way was opened for the entrance of missionaries, and in 1854 Messrs. Aitchison and Blodget were designated to join Mr. Bridgman. Judging that the city crowds could be sufficiently cared for by the twenty missionaries already on the ground, the new- comers soon transferred their residence from a house to a boat, and thenceforth, for a while, gave themselves largely to touring among the dozen walled cities and almost innumer- able towns and villages which they regarded as their parish. The accommodations of the boat were not spacious; a cabin, nine feet by seven, served as parlor, dining-room, and chamber for both. A Chinese teacher, servant, and four boatmen completed the party; where they stowed themselves at night was a mystery. Passing slowly along from place to place, with a week or a month's stay in each, as seemed to be required, these devoted men proclaimed the gospel round and round their district. Their appearance on the streets of one of these towns was sure to draw a crowd; boys ran before them shouting, ''The barbarians are come," or, "Ya Soo! Ya Soo! (Jesus, Jesus)." Stopping in front of some temple, and using a step as a pulpit, the missionaries would address the rabble hemming them in on all sides. The majority paid respectful attention; they seemed to enjoy any keen thrust at the impotence of their idols. Occasionally a nutshell would be tossed from behind; but once were stones thrown. Sometimes a rowdy would IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 253 break in with noisy comment on the foreigners' dress; when opportunity was given for questions, frivolous inquiries were pretty sure to come from the onlookers. Toward evening, as their presence in the town was known, the missionaries received calls from respectable people, who would pretend at least to seek information as to Christianity, though their real motive was plain curiosity. There was little open opposition and a wide field to evangelize. China's epochal war with England and France grew slowly out of a trivial incident at Canton, in 1856, that involved the capture of the city the year following. This year Closed ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ compelled the missionaries to leave Canton and take up temporary residence at Macao; it wrought havoc with mission property and interests. Resi- dences were destroyed by fire or looted, the chapel was ruined, the printing establishment consumed. This last was the heaviest loss of all, carrying with it several presses and valuable fonts of Roman, Chinese, Manchu, and Japanese type, besides Mr. Williams' collection of 7000 Chinese works, text-books and reference books, many of which were never reprinted. The outlook was dark indeed; the people of Canton, incensed at England's action in the matter, were bitterly antagonistic to foreigners; the government was weak; rebellion and dis- order were rife; it looked as though the return to Canton was to be indefinitely delayed. The burden on the mission was increased by the resignation of Mr. Williams to accept the post of secretary to the United States Legation. His withdrawal was not through lessening of interest or faith in missionary work, but, as he felt, to meet a special need of the time, in which he could also serve the missionary cause; he desired it should be looked upon as only "si temporary interruption of a relation which has many probabilities of being resumed." The entrance of the allied armies into Peking, the destruc- tion of the summer palace, and the flight of the emperor to 254 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Tartary, at last, in 1860, opened China to the world. The treat- ies made in 1858 with four great powers of the West had greatly enlarged the opportunities and privileges of foreign ^ ^^\f- merchants in the empire; to foreign missionaries ' they brought a yet greater boon, as they pledged toleration to Christianity and its right of a free course in the land. With the humbling of a national pride built largely upon ignorance, there appeared among the Chinese a deter- mination to learn the secrets of the Western world, the fore- gleam of the New China to appear in the next generation. Looking back from the twentieth century, it may seem a very meager and incomplete transformation which was wrought by the treaty of Tientsin; but at the time and in comparison with previous conditions, it appeared to the eager observers nothing less than the breaking of a nation's bonds. At the annual meeting of the American Board, in 1859, the first news telegram transmitted by the Atlantic cable was announced amid great enthusiasm, ''The Chinese empire is to be open to aU trade; the Christian religion is to be allowed and recognized; foreign diplomatic agents are to be admitted to the empire." The great and surprising concessions to Christianity which were included in these treaties were due largely to the good-will Christi- ^^^ ability of United States Minister Read, Dr. anity's S. Wells Williams, then secretary of the Legation, Share in and Rev. W. A. P. Martin. That the assistance the Change ^^^ j^^^ ^jj ^^ ^j^g gj^jg appears in a speech of Min- ister Read, replying to grateful expressions of missionaries in Shanghai. After calling attention to the fact that in negotiating the treaties the Imperial Commissioners of their own accord offered to concede to the missionaries free access to all parts of the empire, a significant concession which the minister could not accept for the sufficient reason that it would involve the distinction of classes among the people he represented. Minister Read went on to make handsome acknowledgment of the help he had received in accomplishing the commercial results of IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 255 his mission: ''In my despatches homeward I have spoken of my high obhgations to the American missionaries in China, with- out whose practical aid I could have done little, and to whose good example, making a deep and favorable impression on the Chinese mind, what is called diplomacy owes much. The missionary is never, by his own act, in trouble here. He is never importunate for assistance, or clamorous for redress." That these words were not ths mere compliment of a graceful response is evident from the ex-minister's speech to the mer- chants of Philadelphia, upon his return to the United States: *'I went to the East with no enthusiasm as to the missionary enterprise. I come back with a fixed conviction that in this true and harmonizing power, and in its increasing influence on commercial adventure, it is, under Providence, the great agent of civilization; and I feel it my duty to add that every- where in Asia and Africa, among the Kaffirs in Natal, on the continent of India, among the forests of Ceylon, and over the vast expanse of China, the testimony to the suecess and zeal of our countrymen, as missionaries of truth, is earnest and concurrent. I heard it everywhere, and from high authority." The new opportunity of Christianity meant a larger respon- sibility. In affirming his conviction that nothing in the modern The Call history of Asia equaled in importance the accom- of the plishment of these new treaties with China, Dr. Hour Williams urged that here was a new call to the churches. It was likely that there would still be difficulty about protection, till the Chinese realized what they had done. But China was truly opened; not less than 100,000,000 of her people were now accessible. It was the time to press forward, carefully, patiently, but bravely and in force. The premonition that it might not be possible to make an immediate and bold advance proved warranted. The treaties, drawn in 1858, were not at once put in operation; indeed, they were not ratified, as agreed, Avithin a year; evasion and delays occurred, fresh hostilities broke out, the aUies suffered 256 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD reverses; for a while it looked as though hopes were once more doomed to disappointment. However, the occupation of Peking brought the Chinese government to terms, and the treaty's provisions were maintained. So that in 1860 the American Board was able to open the long-desired station at Tientsin; two years later Peking was North occupied; the Board had penetrated at last to the China at capital, the city of population, wealth, and influence Last for the vast empire. In 1865 a station was begun at Kalgan, by the great wall on the northern boundary and looking out upon Manchuria; in 1867, at Tung-chou, the port and granary of Peking, and six years later at Pao-ting-fu, the capital of the province. The choice of these five cities, com- manding the imperial province of Chi-h, was due largely to the judgment of Dr. Blodget, who entered Tientsin with the allied armies, went with them to Peking, and was ever alert to seize the vantage points for an effective evangelizing of the heart of China. The burden on this pioneer missionary was crushing. Dr. Bridgman's death, in 1862, was a heavy drain on the slight force trying to occupy the field. '^I marvel," writes Dr. Blodget, 'Hhat no one comes to join me." Yet foundations were laid and results began to appear. Four converts were soon reported (1862) at Tientsin, men of position and literary teachers. Unhappily accessions were followed quickly by lapses, and some of the early additions to the infant church were not encouraging. The coming of Mr. Hunt from Madras to serve as printer for the North China Mission was a timely aid in the hard task of preparing Christian books and papers in the most difficult language on earth. For in China, also, the missionaries of the American Board were from the beginning leaders in the production of a Christian literature. Meanwhile the missions left in the southern part of the empire were finding their path somewhat smoother. In gen- eral the attitude at Canton station had greatly improved. IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 257 Both day and boarding schools, including Mrs. Bonney's school for girls, were prosperous; attendance at services was growing. Mr. Vrooman found 100 to 150 assembling at his g , chapel for the tri-weekly services; the prospects were never more hopeful. Yet when Mr. Vrooman was obliged to withdraw because of his wife's health, inasmuch as other missionary societies were operating at this center, and the opportunity and need in the North China field were felt to be surpassingly great, the Board in 1866 decided to discontinue its mission at Canton. The establishment was taken over by the Presbyterians, although, as mil appear, work in Canton was resumed by the American Board with a new stimulus and objective in 1883. At Foochow the good effect of the new treaty was evident. People were readier to listen; there was a more respectful atti- tude toward the foreigner; it was understood that chapels and houses could now be rented in the city as well as in the suburbs; church members and native workers were becoming more useful. Yet hostilities were not altogether past. In the early part of 1864 rioting against Christians was renewed in Foochow city. The mob spent its force on the Methodist mission, so that, though the American Board's chapel was attacked, it was not badly damaged. Upon restitution by Chinese officials it was thought there would be no more such injury. But when, in 1865, a site was purchased for a larger and better city chapel, it was almost as hard to get possession, despite the treaty, as it was to get the first little chapel seven years before. However, prejudice was lessening. The girls' boarding-school at Nantai station, established in 1863 with one scholar, the daughter of the native catechist, was at first looked upon with intense suspicion. People feared their daughters would be carried away to a foreign land, or converted by some occult art into opium. No story was too absurd to be believed. Now, only five years later, there were twenty pupils; more 258 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD applications could be secured than could be met. The motive of the parents still was not encouraging, less a desire for their daughters' education than to be partly relieved of the burden of their support. The need of guarding against a too free school became apparent. In these days the work of the China missions was preemi- nently evangelistic. The era of institutional enterprises had Into the hardly begun. The schools and the press were Interior, both in the preparatory stage, the former having to ^870 meet the immemorial pride of the Chinese in their own educational system. Medical missionaries were getting some hold, but without equipment of hospitals and dispensaries; the first missionary physician came to Foochow in 1870. The great concern then, as it has ever been a characteristic of the missions in China, was street and chapel preaching, and the following up of openings made by such acquaintance. The zeal for touring was now quickened; liberty to travel over the empire brought the watchword, "Push into the interior." Tours covering hundreds of miles, and sometimes involving absence from the station for a month at a time, were a common experience; even the ladies went on tour. Every- where the country was open, the climate healthful, the people generally kind and accessible; there was always the motive of curiosity to win listeners. The closer the acquaintance with the people, the clearer it became that opium was blighting the life of China, dulling minds, searing consciences, entailing wealmess, poverty, disease. All ranks and all ages fell victim. Even Christian disciples and sometimes mission helpers were enticed away by the drug. The burden of this national vice and menace weighed on the hearts of the missionaries. Some- thing must be done particularly to meet this need, if missions were to adapt themselves to the situation in China. The germ of opium refuges and their special evangelism was in this first impulse of Christian pity for the wretched slaves of the opium pipe. IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 259 Despite the new times and the growing freedom of missionary activity, there were occasional disturbances which warned the Fanatic foreigner to go carefully. At Tientsin, in June, Outbreaks 1870, occurred the most fiendish attack which so Recur far had been made upon Europeans by Chinese. It was a sudden and isolated outbreak directed against Roman- ists (no missionaries of the Board suffered personal violence, though for a time their lives were imperiled), soon over, and at once denounced by the officials, who sought to bring the guilty to punishment. But it seriously interrupted work at Tientsin and Kalgan; at the former city public preaching was suspended for several months and the freedom of the missionaries was much restricted. The conduct of the native Christians during this trying period was exceedingly gratify- ing; not one, concerning whose sincerity there had been no suspicion before, proved false now to his Master. At Foochow there was a revival of anti-foreign feeling which provoked alarm and some injury. Native Christians had to sleep by wells and chapels to protect them. Strangers found difficulty in passing through the country and itinerating and colportage were interrupted. In this same year, 1870, at a little outstation seventeen miles southwest of Foochow, the chapel was raided toward the close of morning service. The marauders frankly confessed that they had no objection to the chapel or to the preaching so long as there were no con- verts, but now that some young men were accepting Chris- tianity and others were hesitating whether to do likewise, it was not safe to tolerate it any longer. An appeal to the con- sul soon brought an official proclamation sustaining the rights of the missionaries and forbidding persecution; the question remained whether the orders would be obeyed. The policy of the government was indeed changed; not so surely the prejudices of the people, whose living in many cases would be hurt by the decline of idolatry. Yet constant gains were made; the stations became more 260 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD firmly established; their lines of work broadened; the boys' boarding-school at Foochow was resumed and strengthened; Steady the one for girls, started so modestly in 1863, was Gains, now a substantial institution preparing to blossom 1870-80 out in 1881 as the ''American Board Female Col- lege." Tours up the Min River had opened a permanent location at Shao-wu, a prefectural city in an isolated mountain country, 250 miles from Foochow, and with different dialect, customs, and needs. By 1877 two missionaries and a physician, with their wives, were located at this station, which thus could be more adequately administered. In the same year the beginning of a native pastorate was made with the ordain- ing of two men to that office. The issuing of an alphabetical dictionary in Chinese and English, in which Mr. Baldwin assisted Dr. Maclay of the Methodist mission, and a manual of the Chinese language in the Foochow dialect, the work of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, were valued aids to missionary work that enriched the '70s. In North China attention was called to the extent and value of the press as an auxiliary by the death of Mr. Phineas R. Hunt, the veteran printer, who died in 1878, after eight years of service in this field, and as he was preparing to return to his native land. The several stations in this mission were develop- ing their individual character and lines of work. Tung-chou early indicated its educational importance, as its high school attracted to it selected pupils from the other station schools; thus, by 1870, a beginning was made of the higher educational life of that center. Mr. Blodget noted in June of that year that as he went to Tung-chou to preach for Mr. Sheffield, the chapel at morning service was filled to overflowing with lit- erary men from the surrounding region. Gathered at Tung- chou from twenty-four district cities for a public examination, they took occasion to come in and learn of the new doctrine, proving attentive observers and listeners. This was fortunate ground for an educational mission. IN THE EMPIRE OF CHINA 261 In 1878 the northern provinces of China were swept by a famine so fierce and appeahng that the energies of the mission- aries there were for a time absorbed in ministering The Door ^.^ Messrs. Stanley, Smith, Porter, and Sheffield of Famine '^ ' ' aided 18,000 persons in over 100 villages. At all stations relief was received and dispensed. Investigating needs, succoring the famished, caring for helpless women and children, facing the masses of human want and suffering, the men and women stuck to their task despite the heavy drain on body and heart. It proved the most eventful year so far; the devoted missionaries had their reward in finding among the people a new confidence, gratitude, and willingness to hear the gospel of hope. At one village, a few miles from relief headquarters, the combined sense of gratitude for the missionary's help and of disgust at the failure of their own religion to help in the hour of need, led the villagers to propose that they should cast out the gods from their temple, thus to testify their conviction that Christianity was true. After prolonged discussion and counseling with prudent fears, they decided to remove the idols into the front building, leaving the edifice in the rear for a chapel. The ''dedication" of this new Christian sanc- tuary is thus described: ''On the 20th of June the work was completed and a red card was sent, inviting us to attend the following Sunday and hold a service in the new chapel, as had been promised. This invitation was gladly accepted, and on Sunday, June 22, one of the missionaries had the pleasure of preaching in an empty temple from a platform once used to support Buddhist idols, and from a 'desk' which two days before had been an incense table, and to an audience of respect- able size, assembling at the call of the temple bell, vigorously beaten by the son of the temple keeper. Thus this build- ing was formally dedicated to God when as yet there was not only no church to worship in it, but no baptized person within five miles, and only one inquirer, and he a Taoist 262 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD keeper of a Buddhist temple, dependent on the temple for support." In the autumn the question of the destruction of the idols was again agitated. The growing Christian sentiment was not content to have them housed anywhere in the temple. Yet ancient fears and superstitions were strong. There was further delay and questioning; legal difficulties might arise; it was a new and dangerous act. At length it was decided to make the venture. A solemn feast was set to mark the transfer of the temple. The story concludes: ''A formal deed of gift was drawn up and read to the meeting, in which the temple was made the property of the church, and its land was dedicated to the support of the temple keeper, who now becomes a chapel keeper. The formal ratification of the transaction was no sooner complete than, at dark of the autumnal day, fifteen or twenty men attacked the fifty or sixty gods crowded into the front temple, falling upon them, as the Chaldeans and the Sabeans fell upon the flocks and herds of Job, smiting them with the edge of the shovel and of the spade, hurrying them ingloriously into a gutter, so that at midnight not one remained alive ! The next Sunday a church of twelve members was organized at that village, several of those baptized being trustees of the temple." So the period closed in North China with a new doorway opened for the missionary into the heart of its people. Chapter XIV IN THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN The Missionary Herald for March, 1828, recorded among the donations two monthly concert collections from Brookline, Massachusetts, amounting to $27.87, ''for mission of Faith ^^ Japan." Similar entries appear occasionally during months and years following. This solitary but persistent naming of Japan as a missionary field, while yet the American Board had no mission there or any thought of one, and while that nation was tightly closed to all foreign influences, witnesses to the faith of a little company who met in the home of William Ropes of Brookline to pray for the conversion of the world. At their first meeting attention was called to a Japanese basket, which was one of the ornaments of the room, and it was suggested that their gifts should be designated for the land from which it came. Out of that meeting grew a ladies' sewing society, which at length formed itself into a missionary society for Japan. Not then, however, or until forty years afterward, was it possible for the Board to undertake any work in that island empire. Christianity had been brought to Japan Closed ^^ ^^^ sixteenth century by the Jesuit, Xavier. Welcomed at first as an ally against the Buddhists, it was soon discarded by the great Hideyoshi, who became the avowed enemy of Christians and expelled them from the island. Those who would not leave or recant were put to death with savage tortures; some crucified, others torn to pieces by oxen, others buried alive. Yet multitudes persisted in their faith till, in 1638, upon a fruitless revolt against their 263 264 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD oppressors, 37,000 were massacred. After that it was believed that Christianity had been exterminated from the thought of all in the land, save a few scholars in Yedo, who were set to watch for its reappearance. Fierce edicts against Christianity, the exclusion of all foreigners except the Chinese and the Dutch, who denied that they were Christians, the forbidding of the Japanese to leave their own country, the compelling of all suspects, sometimes whole provinces of the people, to trample upon the cross, together with systematic reports from Buddhist priests as to any taint of Christianity in their terri- tory, were some of the means used to protect Japan from any further contact with the hated religion of the West. The historic visit of Commodore Perry with his warships in 1854 and the treaty secured in 1858 by Hon. Townsend Harris opened the door which had been so tightly closed. T e oor -^^ ^g^g ^^^^ ports were declared open to commerce, and permanent residence and several missionary societies had their representatives on the ground. Not until ten years later, in 1869, did the American Board venture to begin its work in Japan. And not much advance had been made by the missionaries on the field during that decade. The anti-Christian edicts were still in force, placards being found at every street corner. The discovery in 1865 that a community of Catholic Christians in villages around Nagasaki, with no priests or churches, still maintained the faith thus handed down for three centuries raised a new alarm against the evil sect and fresh edicts were issued against Christians. The government defended its course in face of the treaties by declaring that the torture of these Christians was but a question of internal administration which concerned the Japanese alone. These were tumultuous years in Japan; there was no security of life anywhere; even foreign diplomats were assaulted and assassinated; all foreigners went about with guards to defend them. It was still uncertain whether the revolution would IN THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN 265 issue in any stable government. The American Board did well to bide its time. But by 1869 the shogunate was deci- sively overthrown and peace partially restored. The time had come for missionary advance. The Board determined to begin its mission. The $600 given by the ladies of Brookline had now 'become $4000, assigned to the opening of this new work. And the Opening first missionary to be sent to the field was Rev. the Mis- Daniel Crosby Greene, whose father, when a young sion, 1869 minister, was present at the first meeting of that Brookline society. Landing at Tokyo, Mr. and Mrs. Greene at length proceeded to Kobe, then little more than a fishing village, but newly opened as a port and destined to become one of the leading cities of Japan. Together with the neigh- boring cities of Osaka and Kyoto, this was to be the perma- nent center of the Board's enterprise in the Japanese empire. Within the next three years arrived substantial reenforce- ments, Messrs. 0. H. Gulick, Davis, Berry, and Gordon, and their wives, men and women whose influence in the formative days of the mission left permanent mark upon it. The ques- tion of locations was perplexing in part from the very ampli- tude of the field. Practically the whole southern half of Japan from Yokohama to Nagasaki was yet without any Protestant missionary, save that Bishop Williams of the Epis- copal Church was located at Osaka. It was not easy to get under way even in 1870. The law against Christianity remained in force; Mr. Greene could see the placards as he walked the streets of Kobe, and W 1 !« iHllflJIjII^*^ CHURCH AND MARTYR CEMETERY, PAO-TING-FU MEMORIAL ARCH, OBERLIN COLLEGE TWO BOXER MEMORIALS THE FARTHER EAST 381 appeared in 1896, has already revolutionized the situation in some of the cities and provinces. In Shansi, frightfully cursed with opium when the missionaries entered it, one who traveled widely through its territory in 1909 saw not a single field of poppies; everywhere wheat was taking its place. And in this new awakening, China is in increasing degree tolerant if not cordial to Christian work. A new favor and regard have been often shown to the missionaries, even by officials and representative people in the cities as well as by country folk. In particular, the return by the United States of the surplus of indemnity funds paid by China after the massacres has added to the prestige of America, and so of American missions. It is no wonder that the reorganization has been swift. In less than three years after the Boxers' devastation mission schools and seminaries in Chi-li had nearly regained their former numbers; the hospitals were again thronged; churches were reestablished with Christian leaders, the church at Pao-ting-fu having for its new pastor a younger brother of that Mr. Meng who laid down his fife in the effort to defend the missionaries. By 1905 Mr. and Mrs. Corbin had arrived in Taiku, the first missionaries to settle anew in the Shansi field. There- upon the work began to develop in that interior province quite as rapidly as in those stations nearer the capital. The years since have shown the eagerness of many Chinese of that province to secure whatever blessings Christianity has to bestow. Teachers in government schools advise their scholars to go to the mission church, which unfortunately is already overcrowded. The hearts of the missionaries are divided between exultation over the opportunity and dismay at the inadequate equipment for so great an hour. The organization at Oberlin of the Shansi Memorial Association, in 1907, links the work of this mission yet more closely with the college with which from the first it has been peculiarly associ- ated and promises to it a larger and yet more loyal support. 382 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD In the south the same quickened conditions have appeared. When Foochow Mission, in 1907, celebrated its jubilee, it could look out with great satisfaction on the growth that had been made. The native Christians were alert and aggres- sive. Churches and chapels were numbered by the hundred, with pastors, some of them remarkable men, coming forth from the schools and colleges to man them. The colleges for men and for girls are among the best that China can show and constitute a force of immense significance in this enterpris- ing province of Fukien. In 1908 the doing away of idol pro- cessions and idol celebrations released the Christians from a nagging persecution. The South China Mission also is astir. The Ruth Norton Girls' School at Canton has come into great favor; more than 100 pupils, many of them from influential families, desiring to enter, have had to be turned away in the later years. A new church, erected in Hong Kong without aid from the Board, is becoming a center of religious life and activity. The plant for the mission at Canton, erected in 1901, has amply provided for the needs of the station there. The celebration of the Morrison centennial in that city, in 1907, was a three days' convocation which brought together the largest gathering of Protestants ever seen in the city, if not in all China. The huge bamboo shelter built on the river bank, with seats for 3000, was altogether insufficient for the representative assembly. Here, as elsewhere, temples are being suffered to fall into disrepair, and the people, convinced of the futility of the temple services and ways, have grown bold to cast out the idols into the street, sometimes even sweeping them into holes by the roadside. Signs of a great opportunity appear in all the provinces where the Board has missions. Near Lintsing recently, in a large region comprising one whole county and portions of several others, inquirers came by the hundred, eager for mis- sionary instruction, and ready to follow the Word as they THE FARTHER EAST 383 learned it. Seven new outstations were opened, and tours made by the missionary reached as many as fifteen villages at a time. The sincerity of the movement was evidenced by the number of changed lives in which idolatry, gambling, and the use of opium were abandoned under the constraint of the new way. The deputation of 1907, consisting of Prof. Edward C. Moore, D.D., of the Prudential Committee, and Secretary Barton, after protracted investigation of the several missions with a view to advising upon readjustments required by the new times, were most impressed with the size and influence to which the Board's work in China had grown in a few swift years. It was natural that those who had been brought close together in the suffering and strain of massacre days and in the siege of Union Peking should find it easier thereafter to plan for Move- cooperative work. And the great conference at ments Shanghai, in 1907, marking the centenary of Mor- rison's beginning of mission work in China, gave opportunity for careful study of the situation and impetus to the planning of united effort. The size and scope of this conference, in which were gathered nearly 500 appointed delegates, represent- ing fifty-one organizations doing mission work in China, was an object lesson, not only to the Chinese, but to the whole Christian world, that Christianity has fairly undertaken the religious conquest of this empire. From this conference the missionaries went back to their several fields, not only with a fresh determination to do each his own part, but with a new sense of the common task. The union work in which the American Board is most signifi- cantly associated at present has Peking for its center. Here several higher institutions of learning have been combined in a simple plan, by which each Board provides the plant and equipment for the institution it owns, while all unite in sup- plying teachers, running expenses being divided among the 384 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD missions according to the number of students each furnishes. In this united way a group of four schools is now in operation: the North China Union Arts College, in the suburb of Tung- chou, built by the American Board; the North China Union Medical College, built by the London Missionary Society; the North China Union Theological College, built by the American Presbyterian Mission; the Union Woman's College, built by the American Board. The American Methodist Mission joins in the plan, so far as the Union Medical College is concerned, and the North China Woman's Union Medical College, to be built and equipped by the Methodist Woman's Board, is already ratified by the Board of Managers in China. This arrange- ment, inaugurated in 1904, has worked smoothly and gives encouragement that such combinations in the interests of economy and efficiency can be made elsewhere in the empire. Indeed, their beginnings are already to be found in other of the Board's Chinese missions. Chapter XXI THE NEARER EAST By 1880 the officers of the Board were thinking that they might soon close mission work among the Armenians. Other Attempt at races were calling for attention: ambitious Bul- With- garians, Greeks in Asia Minor, Arabs in Meso- drawal potamia, and every^vhere Turks, now better understood, and for whom one-third of the missionaries and the native agency were prepared to labor if the way should open. Evangelical Christianity was thoroughly acclimated and vigorous; there were nearly 100 churches, with over 6000 members, and thirty-nine schools of higher learning up to college grade; including the students at Robert College, at least 1000 young men were securing advanced education. More Christian women were laboring for their sex in Turkey than in any other field of the Board. In spite of this growth the hope of withdrawing from the Armenians was not soon to be fulfilled. The effort to press responsibility and self-support upon the evangelical churches, in order to set free missionary forces for other races, produced some misunderstandings and complaints. At the same time the rising spirit of independence among these churches led them to claim for their organizations control of mission funds to be expended for their benefit. There was friction between the native pastors and the mission, and some division of opinion among the missionaries themselves. At last an important conference was held at Constantinople in May, 1883, com- posed of representatives of the four Turkish missions and of the churches, and a deputation from the Prudential Com- 385 388 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD mittee, together with a special committee appointed by the Board itself. For weeks preceding, both on the field and in the homeland, prayer was offered for this conference, which was felt to be of critical importance. And before its sessions began there occurred such a religious quickening as had never been known in the Turkish missions; it covered all the field of Asiatic Turkey, particularly the Central Turkey Mission, and was manifest also at Samokov. The gracious influence continued and increased after the conference with memorable results. Here, again, the work for women by women was notable; at Harpoot crowds of women thronged about Miss Bush and Miss Seymour to hear the gospel, and missionaries at other stations had similar experiences. When the conference met, it found a new spirit of self-denial and evangelistic zeal that entirely relieved the situation. Attendance upon the sessions was felt to be a religious experi- ence of highest value. Judgments were more unanimous than had been thought possible; on the one hand, it was recognized that American Christians could not attempt to meet all the needs of Armenian churches, pastors, and institutions; at the same time, as the situation was studied on the ground, it was seen that these oppressed evangelical communities could not become quickly independent of foreign aid. The conference had only to strengthen and encourage movements already widely begun and to formulate such principles as should safe- guard the rights and interests of all concerned; viz., that the mission should administer all funds received from the Board, while the contributions of the native churches should be under their direction. Strained relations were relieved, and the clouds which, as they gathered, seemed so portentous, passed safely over. The policy then outlined became generally adopted throughout the Board's missions; though as the spirit of cooperation developed, it was to be somewhat modified in operation, as particularly in the Central Turkey Mission. The Turkish government now began to show renewed hos- THE NEARER EAST 387 tility. The slightest extension of work outside the Christian communities was resented; in some places churches and school- houses could not be built. Here and there violence Frssh Obstacles ^^^ ^^^*' ^ storm of persecution broke in 1886 at Marash, and, although the authorities under pressure awarded tardy damages, the incident remained as a warning to those who should exercise their freedom. By the censorship of the press at Constantinople, and the arrest and imprisonment of teachers for alleged disloyalty, mission work was continually harassed. Messrs. Knapp and Raynolds, traveling in the remoter parts of Eastern Turkey, in 1884, were attacked and without redress, though the United States government protested. The times were full of disorder through- out the interior. Bands of Kurdish robbers were sweeping down upon cities and villages, often acting as Hamidieh or the appointed poUce of Sultan Abdul Hamid II; at the same time the coming of revolutionary immigrants from south Russia into western Turkey spread terror through the region. Covert attacks of Armenian Roman Catholics upon Prot- estant mission work, and a painful, though fortunately tem- porary, violation of mission comity in two of the Board's stations were other interferences that made heavier the task. Distresses of still another sort came to hinder the Armenian churches in the assumption of full care of work for their people. The specter of famine stalked over wide districts of the empire, again and again, during the '80s. In Eastern Turkey, in 1880, and in Central Turkey, in 1887-88, the failure of crops was so general that mission work was of necessity turned quite largely to famine relief. Gifts from America and Europe, amounting, in 1888, to $31,000, were then dispensed by the missionaries. The people were left in desperate plight; the tendency to emigration increased; self-support was for a time, at least, out of the question; the wretchedness of the Armenian people was almost universal; the outlook for their material welfare seemed hopeless. 388 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Adversity made the people more approachable and respon- sive. Here, also, famine relief worked immeasurable benefit Growth to the mission, as it impressed not only the evan- Notwith- gelical communities, but the people of all religions standing and races. When it was understood that help was given to all sects alike without conditions there was great astonishment. Green-turbaned Moslems called down Heaven's richest blessing on the Protestants; the churches were filled with new Hsteners, eager to hear the teachings of this wonderful religion. In many quarters the wall of prejudice began to give way; in some villages the Gregorian churches were thrown open to missionaries and earnest requests came for evangelical preachers and teachers. The need of competent men for such openings was desperate. Fresh stimulus came to the schools and the opportunity of the Bible readers was extended. Sixteen Bible women in the Harpoot field, with over 500 scholars, most of them Gregorians, were a sign of the times. Revivals, deep and strong, blessed many sections; at Aintab, in 1888, for six weeks all other inter- ests were forgotten. Gregorians helped to fill the churches; the voice of prayer could be heard in homes as one walked by them. Hundreds were soon added to the city churches, including entire families; it was estimated that 1000 were thus won to Christ in the Hmits of the Central Turkey Mission. Many Gregorians were reached, though without publicly joining the Protestant community. Soon the same influence was felt in Eastern and Western Turkey. A home missionary society was formed during the revival at Aintab, and also societies for strengthening the Christian life among young people. The alienations, so disturbing in 1883, had now entirely subsided, cooperation between missionaries and native workers was once more cordial and effective; the new loyalty and determination that the gospel should win its way were exhilarating. At Constantinople the success of the evangelical work in THE NEARER EAST 389 Gedik Pasha was prompting a similar attempt in Haskeuy. The Home for Girls had developed into the American College for Girls, and with a corresponding lift in its require- ments. The varied activities of this central station included influential weekly and monthly papers, sent all over the empire, and a careful evangelistic work for Greeks. The Greek Evan- gelical Alliance indeed had its center then at Smyrna and its chief field of labor within the limits of that station; yet it was recognized that Constantinople was in a real sense the headquarters for this as for all the missionary work in the empire. The educational work for both sexes and all races was now of central importance in upbuilding the evangelical faith. In all the missions the system of schools was practically com- plete, from the day schools in the several outstations to the colleges and theological seminaries. And there was no more conscientious class of helpers than the hard-working teachers of the village schools who were shedding far and wide the intellectual and spiritual light which they had themselves found in the higher institutions of learning. In the European section of the Turkish missions, also, the era of advance liad come. The first fifteen years of its life Advance ^^^ been mainly a preparation. The war period, in Euro- from 1875-78, which resulted in constituting Bulgaria pean an autonomous though tributary principality, opened Turkey g^ ^^^^ ^He to that eager nation and to missionary work for it. For a time the Board's stations were under three distinct governments, Bulgaria, eastern Roumelia, and Mace- donia. This last district, whose very right to its name was in constant dispute between Turks and Greeks, and Albania, just dawning upon the missionary horizon, kept the missionaries of those regions in turmoil and sometimes in danger. During the decade from 1877-87 the missionary advance among the Bulgarians was rapid, judged by such tokens as increase in numbers, contributions of native Christians, the 390 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD appearance of able native leaders, and the development of the Bulgarian Evangelical Society. Two chief obstacles were national jealousy, which prompted the Bulgarians to accept nothing that seemed to discredit their state Church, and the tide of infidelity and irreligion which came in with the new political freedom. Yet men high in the counsels of the govern- ment admitted their indebtedness to the mission schools and to Robert College. When a new church edifice was dedicated in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, in 1888, one of the large audience was H.R.H. Prince Ferdinand, who, on leaving, presented the church with 500 francs as a token of good-will, an incident in marked contrast with the opposition of only a few years before. Steady work in the mission was hindered by deadly feuds between the races, resulting in frequent outbreaks not only in the mountains of Macedonia, but even in the more civiHzed cities and country districts. The rebellion of 1885, which changed eastern Roumelia to southern Bulgaria, for a time interrupted work in Philippopolis, then overrun with war. Pastors and teachers, however, remained faithful to their posts and the missionaries were alert to win every advantage. In 1896, when war broke out between Turks and Greeks, Salonica and Monastir were centers of activity, and missionary work was again disturbed. Undiscouraged by such turbulent scenes and times, efforts were promptly renewed to develop a generation able to serve the cause of freedom more wisely. The great need was of Christian leadership among the Bul- garians. Attention was turned in the '90s to the better equipment of the Samokov Institute, and of the schools in general, in which lay so largely the destiny of the land. The burden occasioned by the Board's financial distress was heavy; especial cause for sorrow and shame was the fact that the mission paper, Zornitza, begun in 1871 and ever since a mes- senger of light through that gloomy land, had to be suspended for lack of funds. THE NEARER EAST 391 Meanwhile on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus the sky grew darker. The horror of plague once more befell. Close upon the cholera in many sections came famine; in owenng Eagj^em Turkey, in 1893-94, famine relief again had to be undertaken. Serious fires added to the bur- den; one at Marsovan was plainly incendiary and apparently the work of Turkish officials. While in European Turkey civil and religious liberty were gaining ground, in Asia oppres- sion and persecution were strengthening. Marsovan was the storm center in the Western Turkey Mis- sion. Anatolia College suffered the brunt of the attack; in 1893 two teachers were arrested and imprisoned and the institution was kept in close watch by the officials. Even families and former friends looked with suspicion on each other. The Ottoman government seemed determined to cripple the schools and churches. Legal rights were openly violated in spite of missionary and diplomatic remonstrances. Through all, the steadfastness of the missionaries, their prudence, patience, and devotion were worthy of full praise. At length, in 1895, a firman was secured, authorizing the rebuilding of the girls' school that had been burned, and allowing another building for Anatolia College, which now became a chartered institution under the laws of Massachusetts, with an trade or imperial charter granted in Constantinople. The imprisoned native teachers were released on condition of withdrawal from the empire. Order was not at once restored, but the mission felt that its course had been justified. In the midst of a storm, such as they had never encountered before, the missionaries, as one of them said, could only ''stand in the teeth of the gale and outride it or go down." In Central Turkey, too, though the political situation was far from comfortable, and though the poverty of the people and the weakness of the government were depressing, yet the mis- sionaries escaped serious embarrassment and were able to help the Christian population and to lead them even in such 392 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD impoverished times, under stress of necessity, to a larger measure of self-support. In Eastern Turkey the situation was alarming. Far from the centers of travel, it was an inviting field for the blow both of the rebel and the despot. Van was a hotbed of sedition. Erzroom and Bitlis, brought into deplorable condition by famine, were now subjected to such oppression and terrorizing by the government as were almost unbearable. Christians were compelled to speak in enigmas and to talk in whispers. The missionaries, restricted somewhat in touring, found abundant need and opportunity in the cities. A conspicuous event of the year 1894 was the massacre of Armenians in the district of Sassoun. To this lonely and mountainous region in the Bitlis field soldiers from all but one of the cities where there were mission stations were sent to take part in the slaughter. The knowledge and terror of this act traveled fast and far. Suspected by Turkish officials and Armenian revolutionists, the missionaries were threatened by both parties. Famine and cholera and the general terror following the massacres taxed the resources of the mission, especially in Bitlis. Yet new doors opened. Officials in the old Gregorian Church now recognized the sincere good-will of the American missionaries and came to them for advice and help. The closing months of 1895 brought to the missions in Asiatic Turkey experiences recalling those of the early Chris- A Carnival tian church on these very fields. The first out- of Blood break was at Constantinople on September 30, and Fire when a procession of Armenians was attacked on their way to the Sublime Porte to present a petition. Panic ensued; shops were closed; the alarm spread. Four days later similar scenes were enacted at Ak Hissar and without punishment. In less than a week Trebizond was filled with bloodshed, fire, and pillage. Five weeks later Sivas was visited, where it was estimated that 3300 Christians were THE NEARER EAST 393 slain, 5000 houses looted, 200 burned, and over 2000 shops robbed. Three days after, at noon, the blow struck Marsovan, and within three hours the Armenian community had been reduced to poverty, the markets robbed and destroyed, and hundreds of the people slain. Here the mission premises were efficiently protected, but three of the outstations suffered more severely than the city. At C^esarea, where assurances of safety had been received, the massacre lasted for three days. Nico- media, Broosa, and Smyrna escaped outbreak; the other stations of the mission shared in the general disturbance. It was clearly an organized plot to wipe out the Armenians; the orders came from the capital and were traceable to the sultan's palace. At once relief work was imperative. The mission force at Constantinople became a distributing agency for the funds which poured in from Europe and America, $500,000 being dispensed by them besides what was distributed through the Red Cross agency. The missionaries in the interior stations were also engrossed in rendering relief. In Central Turkey nearly the entire field of the mission was involved in the storm of murder and hate. At Oorfa no less than 6000 were slaughtered in two days, beginning December 28, nearly half the number being burned in the large Gregorian church, to which they had fled, and which was set on fire after kerosene had been sprinkled on people, mattings, and whatever was combustible. At Marash the mission premises were invaded, the theological seminary building robbed and then burned, and two students fatally wounded. Six places in the Aintab field were visited; out of a population of 43,000 Armenians, 9500 were slain. For weeks afterward the mis- sion hospitals were crowded with the wounded and dying. Zeitoon, in the mountains, was the only point where there was successful armed resistance. Relief work in this mission, too, was absorbing. Eastern Turkey suffered most of all. Bitlis was attacked 394 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD on October 26 and for a long time the lives of the missionaries there were in jeopardy. Erzroom came next. Then the tide swept across the Harpoot plain, engulfing cities and villages in its path, until it reached Harpoot November 11. Here mission premises were sacked, and all but four of the buildings burned. The missionaries themselves, including the veteran Dr. Wheeler, who, too feeble to walk, was carried by the little company as they fled from their burning houses, were repeatedly fired upon, but all escaped physical injury. Mardin, attacked a little before Harpoot, successfully repulsed the invaders. Van, the last place of all in this mission to suffer, was visited the following June, when the Armenian revolutionists brought upon themselves the consequences of the disorders they had provoked. The glory of these terrible weeks was the Christian loyalty, both of the missionaries and the Armenians. The test of martyrdom was unflinchingly faced by multitudes of men and women, young and old, who firmly refused to recant. The pastors set a noble example, as in Sivas, where one was caught in the market when the massacre began, and for four hours was imprisoned with his people, awaiting death. ''When the soldiers found them, at a later hour, they instantly called upon the pastor to accept Islam. He refused, and they struck him; when he still refused upon a second demand, they smote him again. Then, when for the third time they offered him his life if he would deny his faith, he replied, like Polycarp of old, ' I not only believe the Christian faith, but I have taught it to others; I cannot deny it. If for this you wish to kill me, I am ready.' And with this word he fell, pierced by the rifle balls of his foes." The missionaries were impressed also with the loyalty of the Armenians in the Gregorian Church, and felt that there must be something real to them in the Chris- tianity to which they thus clung even at the cost of their lives. Not a missionary forsook his post or wavered at it. One figure, that of Miss Corinna Shattuck, may stand for all. THE NEARER EAST 395 Alone in charge of the station at Oorfa, and disdaining to use a permit to leave for Aintab, which was granted her just before the bloody work began, this frail woman remained as a tower of defense to her distracted people. The special guards assigned to protect her house obeyed her as if she were a queen, and fought back the mob through a frightful Saturday and Sunday, while the officials sent repeated assurances that no harm should come to her. Meanwhile her neighbors swarmed in, over walls and past guards, for protection, until on Saturday night 240 people, sixty of them men, crowded every room and corner, asking only to remain under her shelter. Realizing her inability to protect the men, the next morning she despatched them secretly with a day's rations to a hiding- place, where she locked them in, herself keeping the key. When in the afternoon Moslem officials inspected her premises, asking Miss Shattuck to appear on the veranda, begging her, ^\^th salaams, not to be disturbed, and inquiring if there were any men there, she was able to say honestly, ''No, only women and children." So she saved all who had fled to her for refuge. In the days of panic and distress that followed the slaughter at Oorfa, when all the leading Armenians were either killed, imprisoned, or disabled, the burden of caring for the wounded and the refugees was calmly undertaken by Miss Shattuck, who forgot that she was really an invalid in doing the work of a strong and fearless man. A Gregorian, speaking of those days, said, ''If it had not been for Miss Shattuck, we could not have endured the pressure. We should all have turned Moslem." The missionaries at once attacked their problem of recon- struction. Food to sustain life was first of all to be provided. Within a few days after the massacre there were The „ no less than 2000 refugees in Trebizond alone, beg- Recovery . » , ,_,,.. gmg for bread. The mission compound m Van became an asylum for 15,000 refugees; some relief was given to at least 30,000 in the region about Marash. After the 396 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD distribution of bread, the providing of clothing was in order, then the getting of tools and household utensils with which to begin life again. The rebuilding was in itself a huge under- taking. A multitude of homes had been destroyed by fire; villages were practically wiped out, and many large cities laid waste. Some of the finest churches in the Harpoot field had been burned; all but four of the mission buildings had gone up in smoke. Industries, too, had to be devised or renewed and special provision made for the thousands of widows and orphans. There were 250 widows and 800 orphans at the one station of Marsovan; other centers, hke Oorfa, Harpoot, and Marash, had twice as many. To make the situation still harder, the financial condition of the Board prevented it from rendering direct aid and even compelled further retrenchment; it seemed to the burdened missionaries sometimes as if the American churches would complete the extermination which the cruel Turk had begun. But other avenues of help were mercifully opened. The American Red Cross society rendered splendid and prolonged service; likewise the Armenian Relief Committee of America, organized largely through the efforts of Rev. Frederick D. Greene, whose book on the Armenian massacres had set the shocking facts before the world. Representatives of the Mennonite Church of America and of German friends of missions came on errands of relief, which proved to be beginnings of per- manent service, as the former undertook the care of an orphan- age at Hadjin, and the latter opened similar institutions at several centers where the overtaxed missionaries were glad to turn work into their hands. An orphanage was opened at Sivas by the Swiss. Large sums were at length forwarded to the missionaries for relief, most of which was administered by giving employment to the needy. More than $400,000 was distributed in this way in the Eastern Turkey Mission alone. Prominent assistants in the relief work were Professor and Mrs. J. Rendel Harris, of Cambridge, England, who came THE NEARER EAST 397 as representatives of the Society of Friends and remained for some time to give the cheer of their presence and help in many of the mission stations; also Mr. Leopold Favre, of Geneva, and Lady Anderson, of Dublin, though the latter did not visit the country. A pathetic figure everywhere in the desolated land was the orphan child, homeless and helpless. The missionaries were A New fairly compelled to undertake the care of these Depart- little ones, whose numbers were appalling. Soon °^®°* at each of the mission stations, as in many of the larger towns, orphan homes were opened. About 2000 children were thus provided for in the Eastern Turkey Mission alone; 1000 at Harpoot. Similar orphanages were instituted in many places in Central Turkey also, such as Oorfa, Aintab, Marash, and Hadjin. The American Armenian Relief Com- mittee, well organized, with Miss Emily C. Wheeler, daughter of Dr. Wheeler, of Harpoot, and herself long a missionary there, as its secretary, now definitely undertook the contin- ued support of many of these orphanages, later broadening its field to render similar service to orphans in India. The expense of these orphanages was kept down by the provision of some forms of work, through which the children could earn a part of their own support. At Oorfa, in 1897, sixty-five girls were employed in stocking making, thirty in felt embroidery, 300 in spinning and weaving, and 200 in silk needlework. This experiment with industrial work as a feature of self-help was so successful that it was introduced into many of the high schools and colleges of the land. The events of the next decade show how providential was the commitment of these thousands of orphans during their im- pressionable and formative years to the sole care of Chris- tian missionaries. Thus a great company of young men and women were made ready for the new day soon to dawn. More than five years passed before the Board's claim of indemnity, amounting to about $100,000, was granted. At 398 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD last, in 1901, the money was paid over to the United States gov- ernment to be distributed to the several claimants. Stations Hke Harpoot and Marash were thus supplied with ^L^^'*^ funds for rebuilding. But the attitude of the Turk- ish government was not humble or apologetic at the time of the massacres; it rather uttered absurd charges of sedition against some of the missionaries, notably Rev. George P. Knapp and Dr. H. N. Barnum. Open threats were made against the lives of others. Mr. Knapp was taken under arrest from Biths to Alexandretta and bundled out of the country with ''expelled" written across his passport. During these times new respect and affection for the mis- sionaries were born in the hearts of Armenians. Desolate Revival ^^^ humbled in spirit, they were ready now to and listen with eagerness to the gospel of a redeeming Encourage- Christ. Practically revival conditions began to be ment recognized in many centers, as in Aintab, where the entire Armenian community insisted on evangehcal teach- ing throughout the year 1897. Out of their bitter poverty the evangelical Armenians still contributed generously for the support of their churches. Small communities, hterally in rags, loyally began to raise funds to maintain preaching ser- vices, promising soon to come to self-support. In 1898 four of these stricken churches in outstations, whose names would be unrecognized in America, became self-supporting, and the amount of native contributions in that field was $3400 against grants of $1700 by the Board. The Gregorians were also brought into closer relationship with their evangelical brethren and with the missionaries, to whom the Armenian patriarch at Constantinople showed an unusual friendliness. Gregorians and Evangelicals for a time united in services and a new spirit animated many of the Gregorian clergy, so that interchange of visits from one church to the other were not uncommon. As peace was restored and life took somewhat its usual THE NEARER EAST 399 course again, this tendency of the Gregorians to unite with the Protestants naturally diminished, but the happy relations then established were never to be altogether broken. In Central Turkey the evangelizing of the ancient Church and its people was most marked; in many sections the closer inter- course has been maintained and the worship and sermon in the Gregorian Church have been so changed as to become sub- stantially evangelical. So marked became this new temper in Aintab and vicinity that it called forth at length a rebuking decree from the patriarch at Constantinople; yet the ten- dency is several-fold stronger now than then. Another ominous outbreak occurred in Constantinople in 1896, in which at least 5000 Armenians were slaughtered; but outwardly, at least, peace was soon restored. With the turn into the twentieth century, the missions in Turkey were again outreaching. The emphasis of missionary labor was now put upon education ; evangelistic f Ad effort was being committed to the native leaders. In Central Turkey a home missionary society was organized, under the auspices of the Cilicia Union, to bring the churches of that body to self-support and to eke out the inadequate appropriations for the native agency. In Eastern Turkey there was so serious a drain upon native workers through emigration that the force was altogether inadequate to the need. The struggle for permission to rebuild Euphrates College,' the delaying of the indemnity, and the terror still resting on the people made it harder here to push reconstruc- tion. In this mission, therefore, the work of touring was maintained with all possible vigor for the supervision and heartening of the depressed communities, Mr. Browne, of Harpoot, spending thirty-two weeks of the year 1900 in such traveling among the churches. In Western Turkey the high schools were crowded with earnest students, and the most hopeful field for evangelical effort was found to be in the colleges and boarding-schools. 400 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD By this time the older pupils in the orphanages were being sent forth into permanent homes or to the higher schools, and the value of these institutions was proved. The mission- aries doubted if any other form of labor had yielded so large a return. Van, the old capital of Armenia, now showed a lessening opposition of ecclesiastics and made the most substantial progress of all the stations in Eastern Turkey in the decade following the massacres. While the Board's missions in Asiatic Turkey were thus ravaged, the fields in European Turkey were not without The Bal- disturbance. The Graeco-Turkish war, in 1897, kans Again brought to the clash the unrest and disorder which Aflame had been secretly fomented. The three stations under Turkish rule suffered all the hardships of riot, massacre, and war. Salonica, opened as a station only two years before, became an important military post on the Turkish side, while Monastir occupied an uncertain position between the contend- ing forces. Yet missionaries remained at their stations and none of them were disturbed. Mr. Haskell and Dr. House were able to spend at least from two to three months of the year in touring; native evangelists kept at their tasks and the colporters visited at least 120 towns and villages. The diffu- sion of religious literature proved an important department in this mission, as in their unrest of mind, eagerness for liberty, and comparative seclusion of life these rough mountain people were especially attracted to the printed word. The publica- tion department was at this time, 1898, transferred from Constantinople to Samokov, with the coming of Mr. and Mrs. Thomson, as it was felt that such work should be done on Bulgarian soil. The Zornitza, regretfully suspended in 1897 for lack of funds, the mission now felt compelled to resume, even on an unstable financial basis, so necessary was it to the work. The removal of the publication department to Samokov THE NEARER EAST 401 left Elias Riggs the sole representative of this mission at Con- stantinople, to give his remaining years to the revision of the Bulgarian Bible Dictionary and other editorial work. At length, in 1901, after sixty-seven years of service and with but one furlough in America, his life work was completed, unmatched, it is believed, among all missionary societies of the world, both for the length of consecutive service and for the marvelous Hterary abihty it displayed. "He had a respect- able knowledge of something like twenty languages, and a scholarly knowledge of twelve. He took a most important part in the preparation of three influential versions of the Holy Scriptures; viz., Armenian, Bulgarian, and Turkish. He was also the sweet singer for the evangelical communities of at least three nationalities, the Bulgarian, Armenian, and Greek. The number of hymns which he translated or wrote in the Bulgarian language reached the remarkable number of 478." With all his abilities and attainments Dr. Riggs was distinguished among his missionary associates for his humility and saintly Christian character. While the missionaries were pursuing their quiet but vigorous tasks of spreading the evangel over these turbulent lands and training in church and school the little companies Miss Stone ^^^ ventured to defy the prejudice and superstition of their fellows, an event happened which brought them for a time into conspicuous notice. In the mountains of Macedonia, near the Bulgarian border, on September 3, 1901, a brigand band fell upon a group of Christian workers and carried off for ransom Miss Ellen M. Stone and Madam Tsilka, the wife of a Bulgarian preacher. The sum first demanded was $110,000, which was finally reduced to $68,200, upon payment of which the captives, after 172 days of hardship and anxiety beyond words to describe, were set free on Feb- ruary 23, 1902. Immediately upon the capture, the entire mission force set itself to discover the whereabouts of the prisoners and to effect 402 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD their release. The United States government came to their aid. Negotiations with the brigands, who, it soon came to be suspected and afterward to be known, were not mere robbers, but revolutionary leaders, were prolonged, difficult, and even hazardous. At length the way was opened for passing over the ransom, contributed in part by Miss Stone's family and friends and in part by churches and individuals in response to appeal. It was due to the courage and skill of Dr. House, Mr. Peet, and Mr. Garguilo, chief dragoman of the United States Legation, that the actual transfer of the money was safely and secretly effected; thereupon they waited in agonizing suspense for the brigands to fulfil their part of the bargain. This was so circuitously done that several days, perhaps even a week or more, elapsed before Miss Stone and Mrs. Tsilka, with the baby Elencha, born during the captivity, were left under cover of the night three miles outside the city of Strum- nitza, into which they were brought early on a Sunday morn- ing, to be welcomed and cared for by friends. Race hatreds and the spirit of political rebellion grew fiercer. The Russian consul was shot at Monastir, the center of revo- lutionary disorder, and though the missionaries p. . , suffered no personal violence, the mission, like all else in the land, seemed to be resting on the crater of a volcano. The possibility of touring in Macedonia was greatly reduced. Organized bands patrolled the country, and wherever the missionaries went they saw the signs of murder and heard the stories of feuds between Greek and Turk and Bulgarian. In response to calls for relief for those who had been left without home, food, or clothing, funds for that pur- pose were forwarded from this country through the generous leadership of the Christian Herald and distributed by the missionaries. At Salonica and Monastir much time was given to the distribution of this relief. Notwithstanding all the confusion and distraction of mind which such scenes involved, the work of the mission was THE NEARER EAST 403 maintained and in some ways strengthened during these years. Especially in the lines of education and publication the field was open. The institutions at Samokov increased their equip- ment and multiplied their efficiency. New educational under- takings, like Miss Clark's famous kindergarten at Sofia, and the Agricultural and Theological Institute founded by Dr. House at Salonica, the latter soon to be developed into an independent institution, with its board of American trustees and supporters, widened the service of the mission to the youth of all races. Churches grew stronger in outward as in inner life. The church at Philippopolis in 1900 erected a substan- tial and attractive stone edifice, sjrmbol of the influence which it was coming to exert in the city. The call for better trained preachers and teachers was everywhere being heard. The Albanians, who had been reached somewhat by col- porters going out from Monastir, now had an organized church at Kortcha, with a native pastor, Mr. Sinas, who had trans- lated the Scriptures into the Albanian language. The eager- ness of many of the leaders of the race to secure missionaries, though rather a patriotic than a religious aspiration, was significant. An Albanian hey went so far as to offer, in 1899, the free use of a room in his house for a school if the mission would furnish a Christian teacher. Thence came the only school for girls in the country in which the vernacular was used, and the sole missionary school for Albanian boys was also planted in Kortcha. The girls' boarding-school, con- ducted by Miss Kyrias, herself an Albanian and a graduate of the American College for Girls at Constantinople, at once made a place for itself, with five boarders the first year, and all its teachers Albanians. Still injustice and oppression bore down on the wretched An Empire peoples of Turkey until there was no basis either of Misery of peace or prosperity upon which to build. The exodus to America was constant, and from the Balkan coun- try as well as from Eastern Turkey. Taxes became heavier 404 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD and government troops forced them from the people till they were stripped of their small possessions; when there was no longer money to be got from them, their household and farm utensils were taken and even bedding and necessary furni- ture. Fear of the Turk was universal, and no Armenian dared tell his troubles save in deepest secrecy to some trusted missionary. Again the influence of the missionaries increased amid the general misery. Their grit and devotion called forth the admiration even of those who had little interest in their work. Many thought they would withdraw after the massacres of 1895 and were correspondingly impressed by their staying. Two Turks, discussing the advisability of burning certain mission premises in Eastern Turkey, were overheard to say: ''Burn every building they possess and they will not leave the country. They are here to stay." There could now be reported 370 common schools in the empire, forty-four high schools, eight colleges, one normal The Edu- school, and five divinity schools, with over 21,000 cational studying in all these institutions. In Western Advance Turkey the Bithynia High School, which a few years before had erected large and supposedly ample buildings, was now planning for another. Anatolia College at Marsovan was filled to overflowing; its tuition fees had grown from $3000 in 1897 to $13,000 in 1907. And the growth of the college was as marked in influence as in numbers. Within the same period twenty per cent of the graduates had become preachers and thirty -three per cent teachers. Euphrates College at Harpoot, the only institution of its grade for more than 3,000,000 people, was a veritable hghthouse amid dark and stormy waters. The International College at Smyrna was formally organized in 1901-02. St. Paul's Institute, transferred in 1904 from independent control to the care of the Board, became one of its higher institutions. Most of the educational work so far was perforce for the THE NEARER EAST 405 Armenians, though a few Syrians and Jacobites were in the schools. At Mardin, in Eastern Turkey, however, where Ara- A Broad- bic was the common language, there were few ening Con- Armenians. A considerable leaven of other races now stituency brought great joy to the missionaries, who felt that the work of the past was proving itself in the winning of confidence and attention from those who so far had held aloof. At Smyrna the missionaries were giving increasing attention to the Greeks. At Constantinople, during 1903, five services were maintained every Sunday in different parts of the city for Armenians and three for Greek Evangelicals, with one service in Turkish. The evangelical Greeks of Salonica had shown a desire to come under the European Turkey Mission, though no funds were available to aid in so important a venture. The association of Gregorians with the Evangehcals became still more marked in many places, espe- cially in Central Turkey. Children of Gregorians and Greeks were sitting side by side in the schools at most of the stations, and different races mingled in the colleges. Sweeping revivals of religion appeared at several centers of this mission, one at Oorfa being the first in its history, and marked a new starting-point in church hfe. The effect of these revivals, as indeed the strength of all mission w^ork now, was not to be measured by the number of converts or the mere size of the evangelical communities. For results were felt in the Gregorian Church as markedly as in the Evangehcal. In the college at Aintab, for example, where, in 1903, every member of the senior class confessed Christ, there were many Gregorians among the converts and the line between them and the Evangelicals was in the college circle scarcely regarded. The work of these missions, so fast outgrowing the supply of men and money which the Board could provide, was now helped by the bringing to it of other resources. The medical department was often able to maintain itself or to elicit gifts 406 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD from new quarters. At Mardin the receipts from patients covered the expense, not only of the dispensary, but of the hospital. A new hospital at Van was secured by jj, " the income from private practise. Of seventeen stations in Turkey, nine had missionary physicians in 1906, with well-constructed hospitals planned or already provided. Loyal Armenians, particularly some who had pros- pered in America, rendered generous aid. One donated a hospital to Diarbekir; another gave a gymnasium to Euphrates College as well as a school building in Arabkir for Armenian girls. Many of these Armenians were debarred from return- ing personally to help their own people; indeed, the exodus to America continued; in a single day of 1907 forty persons left Harpoot for the United States. As a result of interest roused in Germany by the relief work of its representatives after the massacres, a carefully drawn agreement was made in 1906, by which the Deutsche Hiilfs- bund began to cooperate with the Board in evangelistic and medical work in some parts of Eastern and Central Turkey. In 1906 the Turkish government at last made important concessions affecting the property rights of American citizens Political in the land. The "most favored nation" clause of Rights the treaties was now made operative for the United Gained States; under pressure the same privileges were secured for American citizens and institutions in Turkey as had been granted to those of the other great powers, and to the immense relief and encouragement of the missionaries. It was now possible to erect and own buildings and to escape a multitude of petty annoyances, not only from local officials, but from those higher in office, in the developing of mission plants and enterprises. The new conditions were affirmed in an irade from the sultan, ordering the execution of the decision in detail in all American establishments and insti- tutions. GLIMPSES OF MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN TURKEY HOSPITAL AT AINTAB IN THE babies' WARD, AINTAB DISPENSARY PATIENTS AT TALAS 4 HOSPITAL AND OUT-PATIENTS, SIVAS 5 IN THE OPERATING ROOM, HARPOOT 6 NATIVE NURSES AT MARSOVAN THE NEARER EAST 407 Then came an immeasurably greater blessing. On July 24, 1908, the sultan suddenly announced the restoration of the The Swift constitution of 1876, which meant full civil and and Silent religious liberty and parliamentary government. Revolution At first the people were stunned; when they began to shout the new words of liberty they hardly knew how to frame them or what they meant. But every quarter of the empire, European and Asiatic, broke forth into celebrations; in streets and squares, in mosques and churches, with addresses by Mohammedan and Christian speakers to audiences of all races. It seemed as if the people might become delirious with joy. Even one of the older missionaries wrote, ''If I had boarded a comet and were riding on the cowcatcher around the periphery of the solar system, I could hardly be in more of a whirl than I am with the rush of events." Though so sudden and amazing to multitudes, by some the event had been long anticipated. The Young Turk party had been for years patiently laying plans; by the compulsion of its leaders, officers of the imperial army who had the Balkan soldiery behind them, the sultan was forced to make and then to carry out his new decree. But long before the parliament convened in November the nation enjoyed the fruits of the new era. The awful sense of repression and fear was gone. Censorship was removed from the press, which single fact transformed Turkey into a new land where free speech was possible. Barriers between races and religions were for a time entirely broken over. Masses were celebrated in Arme- nian churches for Mohammedans who had fallen in the cause of liberty, while honors were paid by Moslems to Armenian dead as martyrs dying for their country. Bands of revolu- tionaries came in from their fastnesses to swell the joyous crowds in the streets and cafes of the cities; political pris- oners were released from bondage. Compulsory education was now enjoined, if not at once enforced; courts were re- quired to become impartial tribunals; a fair system of taxes 408 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD was promised. The wondering nation looked on with new eyes of hope. To say that this revolution was altogether the result of missionary effort would be absurd; to leave out the mission's The part in it would be as unwarranted. Enver Bey, Mission's foremost in the Young Turk party, in the course P^rt of a conversation with Mr. MacLachlan at Smyrna, warmly commended the service of Americans and American institutions to Turkey, and declared that they had encouraged and inspired his associates and himself in undertaking the movement for reform. Turkish officials congratulated the Armenians upon their greater ability to understand and appro- priate the blessings of a free constitutional government because of what they had learned from the missionaries. And this was as true on one side of the Bosphorus as the other. When the jubilee of evangelical work in European Turkey was celebrated in Sofia in August, 1908, the review of the history showed unmistakably that the influence of the mission on the development of the Bulgarian people had been strong and formative. Careful as were the missionaries not to abet their pupils in revolutionary acts, they could not but sympathize with the Bulgarians in their struggle against the Greek hierarchy. By reviving and uplifting the national literature, and by scattering the Bible and the Zornitza over the land, they sowed broadcast the seeds of a rich harvest, while in their schools they prepared many for leadership in the coming time. The pleadings of Albanians for missionary teachers in the earlier years has been noted. In 1905 they were made more emphatic when an Albanian bey appeared at the Entering g^^rd rooms in Boston, saying that he had come Albania . , , ,- p , . i , r to present m behalf of his people a request tor missionaries. Regardless of the Board's declared inability to add a new mission to its financial load, disallowing any diffi- culty in the estabhshment of definitely Christian schools among THE NEARER EAST 409 his people because of Moslem allegiance, he declared his appeal could not be denied; if refused now, it should be repeated. Such a plea was not to be forgotten even if it could not be granted, and when, in 1907, two American ladies offered to furnish funds to found and sustain for five years a mission to the Albanians, the offer was joyfully accepted and the mission begun. The first missionaries. Rev. and Mrs. P. B. Kennedy, sailed in that year and, after being detained for three months at Salonica by the Turkish government, were at last allowed to go in to Kortcha, where work had already been begun through Miss Kyrias' girls' school and Mr. Tsilka's evangelistic labors. They were thus on the ground when the revolution opened to them, as to all missionaries in Turkey, the freedom of the land. The Ericksons, following a year later, were at once given passports without question. Though meeting with some prej- udice and suspicion, and even being driven out from Tirana, where they first located, they found a welcome and a field in the important city of Elbasan, which thus became the new station among the eager and promising Albanians. The effect of this revolution was to put upon the Board new responsibilities, and to open to it unprecedented opportunities. At once all schools, higher and lower, became A JTgw Ch 11 crowded, Mohammedan youth pressing in with the Armenian. A high Turkish official, speaking to a throng of Armenians on the steps of Euphrates College, at Harpoot, said: ''Hitherto only the Armenians have been able to avail themselves of the privileges of this college. We Turks have been forbidden to send our children here. That is all changed now and we will share with you in the enjoyment of what this institution offers to all who come within its doors." New governors even sought advice and help of missionaries and of Armenian leaders in political and educational matters. At the first general congress ever held by the Albanians in Monastir, November, 1908, and which was called to decide upon an alphal^et for their language, the two Albanians repre- 410 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD senting the Board in that field, Messrs. Kyrias and Tsilka, were influential members, and the alphabet selected was one which missionaries had helped to create. Conditions varied much with the character of the officials and the temper of different localities, but all over the empire there was a new spirit and a new thrill of enthusiasm in mission work, and in all the affairs of the evangelical communities. Whereupon, in April, 1909, appeared almost simultaneously at Constantinople and in the region of Adana and Tarsus in The Central Turkey a sudden and terrifying reaction. Counter- At the capital it came as a revolt of the soldiers Revolution against their officers, in the attempt to overthrow the reform government and to set on foot the wholesale slaughter of Christians throughout the city. In Cilicia there was a succession of furious massacres, designed to exterminate the Armenians, and which did effect the slaughter of thousands, the wiping out of entire villages, the burning of churches, schools, and houses, and a wild flight into hiding of all who escaped sword and fire. It was soon evident that the two events were connected if they were not equafly due to the wily and desperate sultan, who was making one supreme effort to recover his lost power, an effort which the Young Turk leaders fortunately stifled. An inciting cause of the attack in Cilicia was the anger and alarm of the Turks over the activity of some Armenian revolutionists. The immediate concern of missionary interest in this counter- revolution was the tragedy on the plain of Cilicia. Adana was the center of the outbreak, where in the first slaughter two missionaries laid down their fives; one. Rev. D. Miner Rogers, just entering upon a service of great promise for the Board at Hadjin; the other a fellow worker of the Mennonite Church of America, who likewise happened to be in Adana at the time, in attendance upon the annual meeting of the Central Turkey Mission. Of the thirty-five churches connected with this mission a score lost their pastors, many of whom were on THE NEARER EAST 411 their way to the annual meeting. One group of these travelers was consumed in the burning of the church at Osmaniyeh, where they had sought refuge. Besides these leaders perished some 30,000 Christians of all sects, comparatively few of the attacking Moslems being killed, as, except in the cities, they met with little opposition. The slaughter was systematically extended. Armed bands took train to Tarsus to reproduce the scenes of Adana, after- ward spreading out over the villages of the plain and far up on the Taurus range, in remorseless purpose to kill and destroy. In one village, of ninety families only four married men remained and not more than ten escaped in all; in many cases women and children were carried off for slaves. In fierceness, though not in extent, this massacre surpassed that of 1895. The atrocity of the tortures devised, the utter disregard of promises, and the fanatic hate which even dashed to pieces infants snatched from their mothers' arms are almost incredible. While the massacres were confined within this comparatively small territory, the terror and disturbance spread through the interior and even beyond. At lonely Had- jin, in the mountains, five missionary women, without a man of their race to defend them, endured one long week of suspense until the siege was lifted that had held them in hourly peril. Afterward it was known that plans had been laid for massacres in many centers; and that they had all wonderfully failed. Relief was undertaken in the cities even before the fires had cooled. On the day following the first massacre 22,000 people were fed in Adana alone. Competent committees were at once organized in which the missionaries were to the fore, and relief funds began to come in from all over the world. English and American warships, upon arriving, despatched their forces to help restore order and soon a systematic effort to meet the emergency was under way. The Turkish Parlia- ment at once voted £30,000 and despatched its representatives to take control of the situation and execute justice. With 412 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the first moment of opportunity the missionaries began to go out over the plain, searching for those whom they might comfort and help, and systematic tours of relief were under- taken by many of them. The British vice-consul, Major C. H. M. Doughty-Wyhe, whose courage and prompt action brought the first voice of authority to stop the slaughter at Adana, expressed his appreciation of the missionaries' service in saying, ''The personnel of the American mission has increased, if it were possible, their already high reputation; they work without ceasing." The months that have passed since these awful events have on the whole increased the courage and hopefulness of those Signs of who have been watching the progress of affairs Better in Turkey. The difficulties in the way of the Days Young Turk party, allowing them all honesty of purpose and desire, are enormous. Despite the fact that the Sheik ul Islam has declared that constitutional government is in accord with Moslem law and that Christians and Moham- medans are entitled to equal rights under the constitution, there are those who still think it doubtful whether the Turk can deal fairly or live friendly with those of other faiths. On the other hand, the uniform testimony in every part of Turkey is that a wonderful change is being wrought by the new regime. The new vali at Adana has commended himself to the mis- sionaries there both by his words and actions. The execution of some fifty Mohammedans, many of them representative men, who were implicated in the massacres, has been a reas- suring exhibition of Moslem justice. And all over the empire the leadership of the schools and higher institutions, the eager- ness for their privileges which greater liberty has brought, and the signs of new life and purpose among all races, are to the missionaries a call to yet larger undertakings, with the promise of immensely larger results. It looks to the men on the Board's watch-towers in Turkey as though the morning had indeed come. Chapter XXII SOUTHERN ASIA In October, 1881, the Marathi Mission celebrated the round- ing out of its first fifty years of organized Ufe. There were now eight stations, seventy-six outstations, twenty- Indeed ^^ ^^^^ churches, with numerous aUied institutions and Hues of work, of which the 1000 native Chris- tians in attendance were the visible witness. The times encouraged some jubilation, inasmuch as there were now signs of a more general movement toward Christianity among the people. The Board's missionaries had been foremost in relief work during the famines of 1877-79, which afflicted west as well as south India. They were now reaping their reward in a new responsiveness to their message. The times of calamity have ever been harvest times on mission fields, as wretched peoples, realizing over against the powerlessness of their trusted gods the kindness of these ministers of a foreign religion, have come for help in the deeper needs of their hearts to those who have relieved their bodily distresses. Such an extraordinary movement toward Christianity was witnessed at the opening of this period both in the Marathi and Madura Missions, and to both, with the joy of large accessions, came an increase of task in making sincere and intelligent Christians out of impressed but undisciplined disciples. The progress in spiritual perception or even in moral aspiration was still slow. Many would listen, read if they were able, and forsake their idols; while the highest motives were not yet controlling. The burden of their thoughts was often for food and raiment; the desire for education was largely from worldly ambition. Even 413 414 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD so, the school became the doorway into a new Hfe; it gave chance to waken and guide the higher purpose. The time had now come for the educational department of the mission to be still further developed. The Indian govern- The Era of ment was cordial to the mission schools for the Educational natives and disposed to render substantial aid to Growth such as met its advancing standards of instruction. Considerable grants had been secured by many of the Board's schools, and so far without embarrassment; to hold them it was necessary to readjust and unify. By 1887 the high school at Ahmednagar, with its 290 students, mostly of high caste, was allied with the University of Bombay and duly opened as a college ; at the same time, in the Madura Mission, the school at Pasumalai, with 253 pupils, was raised to the rank of a college, and a little later (1893) Jaffna College, with 135 students, was allied to the University of Calcutta and its standard raised. Tributary to these higher institutions were many secondary and boarding-schools, which drew to themselves the pick of the youth, not only from the stations, but from the whole field of the mission; underneath all were those local centers of light and impulse, the village schools. Institutions for special training were devised to meet par- ticular needs, such as normal schools for girls and English schools for Hindu boys, like the one founded and supported by Dr. Palmer at Madura, in which over 200 Hindu boys, among them many Brahmans, were studying the Bible daily. Indus- trial education was under way in the manual training school at Vadala and in the industrial school at Sirur. The latter received a grant of 6000 rupees ($2000) in 1888, and Lord Ray, governor of the Bombay presidency, wrote to Mr. Winsor that for this pioneer work he had ''indisputable title to the support of the public and the friendly assistance of the govern- ment." In the conduct of all these schools the missionaries rejoiced SOUTHERN ASIA 415 to feel that they were maintaining an evangeHstic agency of the most enduring type. A missionary from India, visiting his brethren in Ceylon, declared, ''I think that in Jaffna you will Christianize the people through your schools." The presence of these educational institutions in the great centers compelled attention; the quiet but leavening influence Religious upon Indian life of their graduates and of the Chris- Develop- tians trained in the churches was overcoming preju- ment of dice, while the service of the missionaries to the the Fields lowliest in the land won the approval of leading Brahmans and of local officials. Way was opened for private interviews and even public addresses, stimulating thought on Christianity and civilization. The message of such Christian teachers as Dr. J. Henry Barrows and President Charles Cuth- bert Hall broke down barriers and increased the zeal and aspiration of the native church, while in Ceylon before the close of the century all the eighteen churches had become self-supporting, except the two youngest, and all but two had ordained pastors. In the Marathi field, notwithstanding its poverty, more rapid progress was being made toward self- support. New lines of religious expression and culture were being devised. The Christian Endeavor Society proved most con- genial to Indian soil and developed the evangelistic spirit. The tone of many churches was altogether changed by it, and the missionaries rejoiced to find that the idea of working for others was coming to be recognized in native Christianity. In the Madura district and, indeed, beyond it, Dr. John P. Jones was a leader in promoting this new agency; at one time president of the Society for India, it was in part for his service to the empire in this way that he received a medal from the Crown. In Madura, also, the Pasumalai Press was putting forth a semi-monthly Tamil newspaper, the True News, which Dr. George T. Washburn founded in 1870 and edited for twenty-six years, turning it over to the mission in 1896, together 416 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD with the printing establishment he had acquired. The Madura Evangehcal Society and the Widows' Aid Society indicate other new hues of Christian service. In the Marathi Mission the Chapin Home in 1885 opened its doors to Hindu women driven forth from their homes as they became Christians, and to those who wished to prepare for self-support. Other undertakings indicate the enlargement of the time. A Young Men's Home, begun by Dr. Abbott, was at once suc- cessful as a Christian domicile for young men exposed to the pitfalls of Bombay as they came to the city for employment; a native Indian Christian, Dr. Keskar, established at Sholapur a leper asylum that became a shining example to the amazed Hindus. Though the victims of that loathsome disease could not be cured, it was found that much might be done to mitigate their suffering, employ and divert their minds, and comfort their hearts through the knowledge of Him who had shown himself the Saviour also of the lepers. The work of Bible women was every^vhere pressed as of prime value, perhaps receiving special emphasis in Ceylon. The plague broke out again in Bombay in 1897 and soon spread to the mainland, where famine already was rife. So Famine virulent and sweeping became this scourge that and Plague stern measures were required. Riots broke out in Again Bombay; business was for a time paralyzed. Schools at Ahmednagar, Sholapur, and elsewhere were closed and the pupils sent outside to segregation camps. The strain on the missionaries' strength and sympathies was intense; yet few cases of plague appeared in mission compounds and no lives were there lost. The natives wonderingly said, ''Did your God give you a charmed life that you dare to walk our plague-stricken streets?" Three years of plague culminated in 1900 in a year of yet more terrible famine. Relief funds of $121,000, raised by the Congregationalist and the Advance, were distributed by the missionaries; it was for them a year of unprecedented care, SOUTHERN ASIA 417 but also of opportunity; a committee in India dispensed over $200,000 sent from the Christian Herald relief fund. As a recognition of his service as secretary of this committee, Dr. R. A. Hume received in 1900 the gold medal of the Kaisar-i- hind order. This same year, at the request of the collector of Ahmednagar, Dr. Ballantine went to that city and stayed there for four months, fighting the plague which had broken out again. The amount and character of the services thus rendered to the stricken region are almost beyond calcula- tion. The records show that the American mission took in more than 2845 orphans; distributed seed rice to 24,665 small farmers; assisted 1650 others to obtain oxen to plow their land. Unfortunately the financial stringency of the American Board just then compelled a reduction in appropriations, adding seriously to the burden of the time. As in periods of catastrophe before, the progress of Chris- tianity was now marked. It was a time to be careful in test- ing new converts and in preparation for church membership. Yet, with all caution in this matter, during the year 1900 more than three times as many persons united with the churches of the Marathi Mission as had been received in any preced- ing year. At the same time there was evident a mass move- ment toward Christianity among the out-caste Mangs. Their religion was mainly worship of the cholera goddess, inspired by deadly fear. In 1901 the Mangs of 175 villages in the Vadala district sent in a petition that they be received into the Christian Church. This did not mean that they were all Christian at heart, or even understood the meaning of the word '^Christian"; but it did mean that a multitude of people felt the insufficiency of their own religion and, caught by a vision of something better, were groping after it. A legacy from plague and famine in the Marathi field was a host of orphans; 3299 of them could be counted in 1902 as having come under the care of the missionaries, a heavy tax on already overburdened men and women. The founding of 418 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD orphans' homes naturally led to a development of industrial training; out of that grew a new appreciation of the value of Enlarging such education to India and of the possibility of mak- Industrial ing it largely self-supporting. Various trades were Work taught, as at Sholapur, where Mr. Gates formed classes in carpentry, simple masonry, and rug and lace weaving. Similar lines of work were undertaken at Ahmednagar, where there was organized, under the care of Rev. James Smith, the School of Industrial Arts, named from its founder, Sir D. M. Petit, a Hindu baronet. Asked what was made in the work- shops of this school with more than 250 scholars, Mr. Smith replied, ''Men"; the goods sold were the by-products. At the Industrial Exhibition held at Madras this school, exhibiting in three departments, took the prize in each. New forms of industrial help were devised, as in the case of Mrs. Abbott's industries for widows in Bombay, and particularly through Mr. Churchill's distinguished service, not only as superin- tendent of these lines, but in inventing new machines. His improved hand loom, usable in the homes of the people, has brought him high praise from the government and a prophecy that this machine will be to India what the spinning-jenny has been to America. The quickened growth of the churches and the increasing calls for Christian teaching from all parts of these fields brought new and heavier responsibilities on the missionary p ,. and native leaders. In southern India the need of preachers and teachers vv^as far greater than could be met. The poHcy of the Madura Mission to receive as adher- ents all who turned from Hinduism and applied for Christian teaching had brought into the mission's care many village congregations composed of clusters of families not yet ready to be organized into a church. To them were assigned cate- chists to teach the children, to visit and preach in surrounding villages, and on Sundays and in the mid-week meetings to lead the village congregation in its worship. SOUTHERN ASIA 419 The task of Christian training under such conditions is very great: the most primary things are to be taught, the elements of morahty as well as religion gone over again and again, year in and year out. The simple and oftentimes inex- perienced catechist has to be physician in sickness, spiritual adviser, judge, and defender. All desired results are not immediately secured, yet this is the way to instil Christianity into the life of the people. The amount of such work through- out the Madura Mission grew to be enormous. The field of evangelism, also, had become wide open and so, if possible, more appealing. In 1902 Mr. Eddy visited 1200 villages in various parts of the district, finding the people poor and igno- rant indeed, yet remarkably responsive and faithful, and many of the native helpers, all things considered, doing splendid work. A Native Evangelical Society, which so early as 1846 sought to unite the Christians of the eight stations in support- ing catechists among their countrymen, in 1885 renewed its purpose to undertake this work, besides providing for the support of pastors, and has since maintained a permanent itinerating agency to reach non-Christians, which visits different stations to work for limited periods. The students of the theological seminary at Pasumalai also make an annual tour with their instructors for the purpose of conducting evan- gelistic work while getting close to the life of the people. In the Marathi Mission, also, the class of adherents to Chris- tianity is clearly defined. Those who desire to become Chris- tians, but have not yet been taught its simplest truths, are admitted to a covenant after the pattern of one long used in Madura, which pledges them to renounce the Hindu religious practises, to remain under regular Christian instruction, to observe the Sabbath as a day of worship, to make some con- tribution every week to a Christian church, to use all possible influence against early and irregular marriages, and to follow Christian customs with reference to burial of the dead. In this field, also, has evangelistic work developed in connection 420 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD with the ministry in rehef camps, in house to house visitation, street preaching, and the labors of more than 100 Bible women. The compact mission in Ceylon is an example of intensive farming, having eighteen churches with more than 2000 mem- bers, four boarding-schools, 136 village schools, with more than 10,000 pupils, two hospitals, an industrial plant and printing establishment, native contributions amounting to more than $8000 — all of which suggests a well-tilled field. Evangelistic work here can now be carried on by the native churches, in some cases the supervision of missionaries being merely nominal. Every station of these missions was visited in 1902 by a deputation, composed of Rev. J. F. Loba, D.D., Mr. Wilham The F. Whittemore, and Secretary Barton. Their care- Deputation ful survey emphasized the contrast between the of 1902 years of beginning and the present era of results. In place of two unwelcome missionaries struggling to get a doubtful foothold in Bombay, the deputation looked upon three established missions, located in large and developed stations, and housed in commodious buildings, holding titles to all property, esteemed by government officials and favored with every privilege and grant which they could bestow, while respected and trusted by masses of the people, and winning more surely every year the regard of the higher classes of native society. As they went about Bombay, Ahmednagar, or Madura, or passed from one to another of the closely grouped stations in Ceylon, the deputation was profoundly impressed with the substantial quality of the work being done and the size, variety, and strength of the institutions through which it was wrought. In every department of mission activity progress was now more rapid. Within the last few years in the Marathi Mission alone there had been great increase in church membership; nearly 1100 were added to the churches the year before the deputation's visit. New calls for missionary work were com- SOUTHERN ASIA 421 ing from every quarter; the resources of the native agency were being pushed to the utmost. In Madura, in the field around the Aruppokottai station, there were no less than 120 separate villages in which Christians were to be found. The four pastors in that district were almost crushed with the responsibilities of their task. In the three fields missionaries were residing at twenty-five different centers, native Chris- tians and other workers at more than 900 other places. Already there were more than 12,000 church members in the missions and over 30,000 who had broken with their old faiths to join the Christian communities. With the missionary force, comprising now nearly 100 men and women, were associated 1500 trained native workers. The principle of self-sup- port, earnestly pressed in this mission, was now producing substantial and increasing results. By 1909 it could be re- ported that nine evangelists, several school teachers, and Bible women, besides all the pastors, were supported by native contributions, which amounted to 18,537 rupees, or over $6000. A complete system of education was articulated, from the village schools, sometimes under a tree or in a thatched shed, to the college and professional school, besides other special in- stitutions to meet local needs, in all making a list of educational agencies almost bewildering to the inspectors. Of evangelistic as well as educational benefit, these schools had come to be a social force also, opening new doors, breaking down barriers, and broadening the field of the mission. One boarding-school was visited in which pupils from eighteen different castes were enrolled, dwelling, eating, and studying together, an object lesson to the people of all that region. A fresh outbreak of caste prejudice in the Uduvil (Oodooville) Girls' School in Ceylon at this time was so well handled that it resulted in a real revival through which the school blessed the community. The confidence which the governments both of India and Ceylon felt in the mission schools was evidenced to the depu- tation by the fact that grants then being made to these schools 422 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD amounted to $26,000, far more than the Board itself was con- tributing toward their support. Indeed, the government grants and the fees of the pupils were now larger by some $8000 than the total appropriations of the Board for the general work of these three missions. The important and expanding medical department was practically new in these later years. It was not until 1904 that an equipped hospital appeared in the Marathi Mission, though Dr. Norris at Bombay and Dr. Ballantine at Rahuri had con- ducted medical work without hospitals in the 70s, and Dr. JuUa Bissell had made the beginnings of a hospital for women at Ahmednagar in 1894. In Madura and Ceylon the medi- cal work had developed earlier, until they had large and finely equipped hospitals; the Albert Victor, at Madura, under Dr. Van Allen, being a gift outright from wealthy Hindus, several of whom had been his patients, while the McLeod Hospital for Women and Children at Inuvil, Ceylon, came through funds raised by the Misses Leitch from friends in England and America. The task of preparing and publishing vernacular Christian literature was stimulated by a growing demand for it; the sev- eral mission papers, the Dnyanodaya and the Balbodhmewa, or children's paper, in the Marathi field; the True News and Joy- ful News in Madura, and the Christian Witness in Ceylon, all had an assured and widening circulation throughout their fields; the output of the press was more than doubled in one year. The Marathi Mission now maintained no press, but made use of local publishing houses, but the printing plant in Ceylon, which had been turned over to private hands, was taken over again by the mission and attached to the industrial depart- ment of the TeUippallai (Tillipalli) school. The first decade of the twentieth century has witnessed some new and significant movements in Indian life and thought, supposed to betoken the stir of a national feeling. The mixture of races in India and the division of her people into sects and SOUTHERN ASIA 423 castes make it difficult to define any clear national spirit, though the formation and continuance of an Indian National Congress The Stir point in that direction. Criticisms of the British of a New government and a demand for the control of India by India j^ej. people may easily be explained and discounted, but the fact remains that there is a real if sometimes vague unrest among the more ambitious and educated classes which in some quarters seems to be also sifting down among the masses. It makes this a serious though hopeful time for India, and one that calls for alertness and adaptation on the part of all missionary workers and the native church. Such adaptation is being earnestly sought. Already this stir of new life is bringing gains to missionary work. New mass movements toward Christianity are occurring, as among the large and substantial farming class in the Marathi Mission and from the robber caste in other sections. Proud Brah- mans are reading the Bible and studying with confessed admira- tion the life of Christ. Educated Hindus actually have formed themselves into societies to carry out social and moral reforms that they admit are based on Christian teaching. Missionary institutions are openly admired, patronized, and even imitated. In that most bigoted and sacred city of Wai a missionary of the American Board has been associated with Brahmans both as counselor and administrator of pubhc affairs. There are indications that a host of India's higher classes are being more or less consciously influenced by the Christian gospel. The new spirit brings its own difficulties. Sometimes it fosters insubordinate and revolutionary temper among students; again, reaction to the ancient faith and worship is adjudged to be a part of patriotism. Yet on the whole the unrest of the time in India (it is not much felt in Ceylon) is an advan- tage to the missionary as giving him a new approach. The government continues to help the cultural and humani- tarian features of missionary work, but it has raised the standard of requirements for the higher institutions of learning 424 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD and has conditioned its grants thereupon; schools and colleges of the missions have been forced to seek enlarged equipment and to make some readjustments. In Madura the college has been moved from Pasumalai into the city of Madura, where a new and adequate building has been erected, and where it greatly needs now a fuller support that it may meet the require- ments of a college of its grade. High schools, normal schools, and industrial departments, together with the theological school, remain at Pasumalai, the high school in Madura being kept as directly tributary to the college. Jaffna College has made an advance in grade with the change of its affiliation from Calcutta University to the University of Madras. Under the spur of the new times a fresh aggressiveness has come both to the mission and the native church. New edifices, like the First Church in Bombay and the First in Ahmednagar, open more inviting doors to the passers-by in those cities. Missionaries, native pastors, and Christian leaders are showing new determination to get outside their localities and communi- ties and to evangelize their entire fields. The villages are being sought with new enthusiasm, and stereopticon and song services are being used throughout this field to win audiences and to sow the seed of the gospel. To give greater efficiency to the churches and to stimulate their pastors and members to assume more responsibility, the Madura Mission has within a year undertaken such a reshaping of church polity as combines more closely, under direction of the District Conference, the church life of the mission. Similar proposals are now made for the Marathi Mission, in the hope that more and more the oversight and direction of church life and extension shall pass from the missionaries to the native church. A notable sign of the times, in harmony with what is trans- piring in other mission fields, are various attempts at union or cooperation between missionary societies and the native churches on their fields. The United Church of South India MADURA'S DIAMOND JUBILEE THE MARCH OF THE BAXXERS OF THE YEARS THE XEW COLLEGE BUILDIXG A SECTIOX OF THE AXXIVERSARY CO.MPAXY SOUTHERN ASIA 425 has recently been formed by the union of Presbyterian and Congregational churches, the latter representing the missions of the London Missionary Society and the American Board. It seeks to embody the best features which the experience of the several missions has devised. This Union, one of the earliest and most significant of all the attempts at such combination, is setting an example to others, and is regarded as only a begin- ning; yet in 1908 it included 108 churches, with 140,000 Christians. A union theological college is now assured at Bangalore, in which the London Missionary Society, the United Free Church of Scotland, the English Wesleyans, and the Dutch Reformed missions are to join, and in which it is expected that the Board's Madura Mission will cooperate as fast as arrangements can be made. A scheme of federation is also proposed in the region of the Marathi Mission, where consolidation does not yet seem feasible. In Ceylon, without organic union, the missionary societies at work in the neigh- borhood of Jaffna have joined in evangelistic services, and the Church Missionary Society and the Wesleyans, with the American Board mission forces, are seeking with utmost good- will and comity to serve all the interests of their close-lying fields. Chapter XXIII SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA The Zulu Mission celebrated its jubilee in 1885. The con- trast with 1835 was sufficiently impressive. That wild land of Natal which the pioneers entered was now a A Jubilee prosperous English colony. Even so far inland as the capital, Pietermaritzburg, were all the accom- paniments of civihzation: churches, schools, banks, and libra- ries. Yet the pressing in to the colony not only of foreigners, but of Zulus from other districts, made the number of heathen in Natal even greater than in the earlier years, and there were still broad stretches of almost unmitigated paganism. On the field the American Board had developed its Zulu Mission into a force of twenty-six men and women, located at nine stations, in a territory stretching 150 miles from north to south, with no station more than fifty miles from the sea, and most of them within ten or twelve miles of the coast. The labors of this missionary force, with the 137 native leaders, were directed upon fifteen churches, with nearly 800 members; forty-one common schools and four schools of higher grade, in which, all told, there were nearly 2000 under instruction. Two recent events added to the rejoicing at this jubilee: one was the exploration of a new field to the north, where the native churches and native leaders were preparing to under- take the evangelization of their own people. The other inspir- ing event was the pubhcation in 1883 of the complete Zulu Bible, a task to which Mr. Pixley had devoted great labor, both in the translation of the books of the Old Testament and the revision of the whole. Thus was given to the Zulu- speaking people the entire Bible within fifty years from the 426 / CAPE UmtwaluVe ^7^ . XjTlWzumbe COLONY SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 427 time the missionaries found them, naked and savage, with an unwritten language so intricate that it was long before they could find any key to it. Yet the situation was not unqualifiedly joyous even in the days of jubilee. There were genuine Christian lives and A Slow homes at all the stations, yet, with bright excep- Trans- tions, the tone of life was low even on the Mission formation Reserves. There was little family government, little self-control, no strong moral sense, and a prevailing and disas- trous belief in witchcraft. In some cases it seemed to the missionaries that the churches were hardly ready yet for pastors, not knowing or appreciating what were their duties, and so what should be their qualifications, regarding the pastor more as a petty chief than as a religious teacher. The Zulus, too, were naturally indolent; their wants were easily satisfied, and they could contemplate with little concern the incoming of Indian coolies to take the place of their own people who did not Hke to work. The colonial government, which had formed its native code years before, when it was not strong enough to enforce English law, still dealt with the Zulus by laws which legalized many practises most adverse to the gospel. Some of the native chiefs, alarmed lest Christianity should weaken their power, were now actively working against the mission, and Roman Catholic priests renewed their opposition as they saw the Protestants winning a measure of success. To add to the burden, to the mission's cry for reenforcement the answer came from America, "Retrench!" Yet the missionaries never wavered. The results achieved at Lovedale by Dr. Stewart stimulated the desire to attempt Fresh more in education, particularly in industrial lines. Plans and New buildings were somehow secured at Inanda Efforts Qj^^ Umzumbe, and by 1895 these higher institu- tions, including the reopened Amanzimtoti Seminary, were providing larger facilities for training a new and more mobile 428 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD generation of Christian leaders. Such devotion and unwaver- ing faith were bound to have their reward. At length came widespread and genuine revivals of religion; the one which visited five stations in 1892 marked the beginning of a new era. The membership of the churches had increased nearly threefold by 1900, while the force of native helpers had grown from 168 to 397. By 1894 the eighteen churches of the mission had attained full self-support and the Native Missionary Society, formed in 1860, was now taking full oversight of all the churches in its field and the provision of its ministry. The publication of a new Zulu hymn book and a reader, added to the current edition of the Scriptures, furnished the beginnings of Zulu literature and a stimulus for the aspirations of the people, while the opening of a mission to the far north and new and urgent calls from fields nearer by were also putting a helpful pressure upon the growing life of the Christian communities. It was recognized by all that God had a far-reaching purpose to accomplish through this mission to the Zulus and that the time had come for advance. As natives were flocking by hundreds and thousands from all directions to such rising inland towns as Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Kimberley, these places became strategic points to occupy; the gospel, if preached there, would be carried to kraals and districts unreached by any other means. In 1894 Mr. Goodenough began work in Johannesburg, securing a little chapel as a location. The Zulus were delighted at having someone come to them who could speak their language; the opportunity was at once found to be needy and full of promise. Other signs of growth and improvement were being mani- fested, such as increasing habits of industry stimulated by Other the expanding wants of the people, the impulse of Signs of the natives themselves to carry the gospel to points Growth yet unreached, the diminishing need of foreign supervision in the mission, the better work of teachers as a result of more careful training in the higher schools, and the SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 429 opening of some new lines of work, like the home for native girls at Durban, and the dispensary, and small building used for hospital purposes at Amanzimtoti. Continued revivals, notably in 1897, produced some remarkable transformations in individual character and in the Christian zeal of the churches. It was apparent that the Zulu who had seemed so stolid, carnal, and indolent was at last awaking to a new sense of capacity and ambition. The missionaries remarked with delight char- acteristic signs of the times: a Zulu actually traveling afoot while his wife rode the horse he led; a troop from a mission school making a concert tour and finding appreciative native audiences; one mission school challenging another forty miles away to a match game of football. And there were more important indications of the same awakening. The Zulu was now becoming desirous of assuming responsibility and self- direction in church affairs, in educational matters, and in political hfe. Church councils, conferences, teachers' insti- tutes, and political societies, all new things among the Zulus, were significant and hopeful facts. This growing spirit of self-reliance produced fresh per- plexities and difficulties. As in other mission fields, so at Dangers of last in Africa, the native Christians began to claim Independ- the right to manage their own institutions. The ence mission recognized with joy the new situation and prepared to meet it. Yet it was impossible to approve or to permit all the hasty schemes of independence which were then pressed and for which the people were clearly unpre- pared. A temporary ahenation of some native leaders fol- lowed, and a body of natives, separating themselves from the mission churches, formed what they called the Zulu Congre- gational Church. The spirit of patience and conciliation shown by the missionaries soon overcame this hasty action; the separatist Church was shortly united again with the churches of the mission under the new name of the African Congrega- tional Church, and mutual trust and good-will were restored. 430 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD In the meantime there had been much irritation growing out of the administration of the Reserves which, as has here- tofore been said, were given to the American Board by the government in order that the mission ''might have a fixed population to labor among, without let or hindrance." The missionaries were obliged to administer this trust by assigning parcels of land to individuals, thus involving themselves in collection of rents and in decisions as to the expenditure of amounts secured from taxes. As the years went on this duty entailed much labor and many perplexities, since the natives beheved that the Reserves were given for their use and should be conducted as they individually desired. The friction became serious. The natives demanded that the land should be given them in severalty, a procedure which the government absolutely refused to permit. As the mission greatly desired to be relieved from the respon- sibilities of this situation, in 1903 a plan was formed to turn over to the Natal government, under certain fixed conditions, the direct rule of the Mission Reserves. If the government officials had acted considerately under this plan serious trouble might have been avoided, but they failed to handle the matter tactfully. Rather, becoming alarmed at the growing spirit of independence, they began to coerce the natives. Exorbi- tant rents were charged, native ministers were denied the right to celebrate marriages, and it was declared that a white missionary must reside as superintendent wherever there was a native church. All this resulted badly and the people became still more apprehensive and dissatisfied, while the policy of the government grew more rigid. What came to be called the Ethiopian Movement was at first nowhere disloyal or inciting to rebellion, but only an assertion of the desire on the part of the natives for larger liberties, responsibilities, and opportunities. At length, as fric- tion increased, this uprising came to seem ominous, not only to officials, but to the watchful missionaries who were in the SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 431 delicate and difficult position of trying to mediate between two parties, with the contention of neither of whom they could altogether agree. During the year 1903 the Board's first deputation to Africa visited all the stations of the South and East Central Missions. The Depu- Mr. F. O. Winslow being unable to accept his tation's appointment, this deputation had but two mem- Findings bers. Secretary E. E. Strong and Sydney Strong, D.D. Happily Mrs. Sydney Strong was able to accompany the party and to contribute a quick appreciation, sympathy, and woman's tact. Her sudden sickness and death on the home- ward voyage enrolled her name among those who have sacri- ficed their lives for the redemption of Africa. As they journeyed from place to place, inspecting institu- tions and communities of the Zulu Mission, the deputation was impressed to find how thoroughly this missionary work was being wrought into the people's life. Self-supporting churches with native pastors were evangelizing each in its own vicinity; the schools, too, had native teachers and were included in the school system of the colony. The missionary spirit of the Zulu church was now very strong and was the best buttress against formal religion and a relapse into heathen- ism. Their gifts to home and foreign missions put to shame many American churches; the native contributions in the Zulu Mission in 1903, with only twenty-three organized churches and 4000 communicants, were about $8000. Evangelism was easily developed among the Zulus; men took it for granted that they were to proclaim the gospel that had come to them. Every Sunday at Durban a large company of lay preachers went out to repeat to others what they had that day heard. Similar work was done elsewhere; bands of men and women after the church service would visit the kraals for many miles around. The evangelizing spirit of this people is well shown in the history of Engonyameni, near Delagoa Bay, where the gospel was carried somewhat later by natives 432 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD of the place who had been won to Christ at Pretoria, more than 100 miles away. These young men, on returning home, not only announced their conversion and preached the gospel to their people, but with their own hands built chapels until they had erected seven, which became centers of Christian teaching and fellowship. When Mr. Goodenough visited that region in 1905, after the work had been in progress some two or three years, he could hardly trust his eyes, declaring it the most marvelous bit of mission work he had seen in Africa. At the annual meeting of the native churches in 1907, held in Papala, north of the Tugela River, itself typical of the out- reaching spirit of the Zulu churches, in response to an appeal from Engonyameni, three Natal preachers, all men of high abiUty, declared their willingness to go into that fever-infested district. But the deputation's visit was not simply a joyous inspec- tion of the mission's successes. There were still problems and difficulties concerning which counsel was desired. Some advance in the educational department was imperative if native leaders were to be provided for the expanding enter- prise. The churches asked for decisions in regard to polygamy, ecclesiastical polity, and the mutual relations of the mission and the churches. And everywhere the perplexing subject of the Reserves was eagerly discussed. The government flatly refusing to permit the assignment of lands in freehold to the natives, a next best plan was proposed, and to this the people strenuously objected. The deputation and the mis- sion came to be looked upon with some suspicion by the Zulus, because wilhng to accept conclusions which, though not by any means ideal, were regarded as the best that could be secured. But vigorous protests were made against the require- ment that no mission work should be conducted except where a white missionary resided as superintendent, and against the debarring of native ministers from the rights and responsibili- ties of the pastoral office. It was impossible that the mission SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 433 should develop its work if these demands of the government were to be maintained. If the deputation could not relieve all these troubles and perplexities, it could encourage with its sympathy the bur- dened missionaries and strengthen the loyalty of the native Christians. It transpired further that, by the courtesies and hospitalities of the time, acquaintance and regard for the mission and its work were increased among outsiders, and some high govermiient officials were led to consider anew their relations to the mission board of a sister nation and its work in their land. More concrete results of these interviews and deliberations began to appear. Educational standards were soon after raised in the high school at Amanzimtoti and in the theological school of the mission, to which Messrs. Ransom and Taylor were assigned. The primary schools now began to receive government grants and a member of the mission was set apart for the general oversight of the educational work, his salary and traveling expenses being met by the gov- ernment. The medical work of the mission was transferred from Amanzimtoti to Durban. In 1906 an armed rebellion was started, remote from any mission station and imder a heathen chief. This wave of rebellion spread into one district, where it touched T> V 11- two or three of the Board's stations. Some non- Rebellion ^, . . Christians and a few church members in two sta- tions became involved. The native pastors resisted the uprising manfully. When troops arrived to disperse the rebels it was reported to the governor that the whole population was in rebellion. So it was formally charged at London and announced in the Parliamentary Blue Book that in two of our large mission stations practically all the natives had joined the rebels in the field! The governor of the colony declared that the congregations were beyond control and endangered the government. Afterward these statements were fully dis- proved. In only two of the twenty-four churches was there 434 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD any disloyalty; not one of the twenty-four preachers was found wanting; all the male church members who joined the rebels could be counted on the fingers of two hands. Missionary work was really a support rather than a menace to the govern- ment in this native uprising. But for a time it further sep- arated the mission and the Natal government, embittered the natives, and made harder the work. Two stations at Esidum- bini and Noodsberg suffered losses and were involved in the sweeping denunciations. It required the missionaries' utmost courage and skill to hold things together, keep steadily at their appointed tasks, and wait for better times. Meanwhile the Board's expanded work on this side of the continent was made a more compact organization by the union of the Zulu and East African Missions, in 1906, as the Zulu and Rhodesian branches of the South African iMission. The better situation hoped for was not long in coming. A new governor of Natal showed a friendly and conciliatory spirit toward both the natives and the mission. From the first, his utterances inspired confidence and produced a calmer feeling among the Zulus. One by one the more offensive laws were either amiulled or relaxed, the Reserve tax being greatly reduced; the natives meanwhile were coming to a fairer atti- tude towards government control, admitting the justice of a tax if it were not excessive, and proving to the satisfaction of officials their loyal and law-abiding purposes. The missionary situation became once more serene and hopeful. The forma- tion of the British United States of South Africa, in 1909, while it committed the injustice of disqualifjdng natives from voting, yet opened to them advantages in the field of education and the prospect of a share in the increased prosperity antici- pated from the union of the states. The missionaries report in 1910 that the conditions of missionary work are now in ever}' way happy and encouraging. All forces are working together well and with fine promise of results. At the very close of this period the Zulu Branch of the Board's South «^ g « zn 2 g 5 m zn <5 Q w s I H (M wo ■< P Q m < SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 435 African Mission is entering into cooperation with the United Free Church of Scotland in the field of education, an arrange- ment by which the youth of each mission will be educated in the Board's school at Amanzimtoti, while the theological students get their training at the Free Church Seminary at Impolweni, the teaching force being made up from both mis- sions. So South Africa puts itself in line with the world move- ment toward union on the mission field. Throughout their tour of Gazaland, or Rhodesia, as it was now called, the deputation was impressed with how much Progress in had been accomplished by this mission in the decade East Cen- since its organization, especially as it had never tral Africa I^qqh adequately manned. Despite the huge task of planting this mission in the wilderness, it secured results from the first. At the beginning of the third year of occupa- tion the missionaries could report some thirty persons as having professed their desire to follow Christ, and in 1897 the first church was formed, with sixteen young people as its members. Its officers were from its own number, and from the outset it was pledged to self-support; its first contribution, with a little aid from the mission, amounted to $11. While all departments of mission work were undertaken, immediate attention was given to industrial features, which, it was felt, must be an important part of its effort. Work Soon the natives, to whom all but the rudest tools were a mystery, were at work in the saw-pit upon the logs hewn from the noble forest at Mt. Silinda. Shortly before the deputation's visit Mr. Fuller had arrived, bringing in with him a traction engine sent from this country, with much other valuable apparatus as a gift for the industrial department. The transportation of that engine over the 180 miles of native paths leading from the coast to Mt. Silinda was a herculean task, requiring weeks of time and all the American skill and Christian devotion of Mr. Fuller, who simply would not give up. All the industrial lines took on 436 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD new activity. At the sawmill, the brick kiln, and later the carpenter shop, young men were taught to produce building material and some furniture, both for mission use and for sale to the settlers. Later the appearance of a Ndau hymn book marked the operation of a printing press as another feature in the industrial life. In 1902 a new station was opened at Melsetter, with Miss Gilson in charge of a school for children of Europeans, which the government at length took over in 1910. Among the students arriving at Mt. Silinda in 1906 was a group of young men from Beira, where a station had been opened in 1904 as the Ruth Tracy Strong Mission. Mr. Bunker had secured a residence, was gathering scholars and inquirers about him and making a good start at mission work, when the interference of Portuguese officials became more and more disturbing. Boys were seized, imprisoned, and whipped on false charges, but really because they resorted to the missionary, until they were almost afraid to come, and the situation grew intolerable. Finally, worn out by the conflict, Mr. Bunker felt compelled to withdraw, closing the mission temporarily, but not without definite fruitage in the lives of these young men, who made their way secretly to Mt. Silinda to enter the Christian schools of that freer country. The wisdom of this mission's location has been abundantly shown. A good land to dwell in, it has proved a fruitful land to till. When, in 1906, scarcely seven years after o tl k work was begun at Chikore, the third annual gather- ing of native Christians convened there, it was an inspiring and rewarding sight for those who founded the mis- sion to see this living church bearing the witness of changed character, offering itself anew to Christ, and responding to the appeals for service. One feature of the occasion was the claiming of the old rain tree, under which sacrifices had been offered by the witch doctor to the rain gods, as henceforth to be one of the possessions of Christ. From this meeting. SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 437 and moved by its spirit, the Zulu evangelists set themselves with new determination toward the great Sabi valley lying to the westward, most populous of all the adjacent districts and absolutely dark in its heathenism. The story of the efforts of these evangelists and of young men from the schools who went out at the week-end in one direction and another to visit the heathen kraals, and who thus succeeded in one year in winning scores of such as they themselves had been to follow them in their new way of life, is full of cheer for the Chris- tian conquest of Africa. The Rhodesian Branch of the South African Mission faces a magnificent opportunity, with every assurance of victory if only it shall be worthily equipped and sustained. Meanwhile the new mission on the west coast was making headway. By 1893, when the East Central Mission was opened, three stations had been formed, reaching a popula- Africa ^^^^ ^^ 100,000, the language had been reduced to written form, the Scriptures and text-books trans- lated, two self-sustaining mission churches organized, with their own houses of worship and forty-nine communicants; eight common schools opened, with 345 pupils, one-third girls, and a home missionary society organized and at work. The task had been enormous, and the strain severe; of thirty mis- sionaries who had been on the field only one-half were left in Africa. Bailundu, the oldest station, naturally showed a fuller development. A temporary decline had occurred at this station, with some loss of native Christians from Stations ^^® mission, but the defection was overcome, nearly all who had relapsed to heathenism had returned to their Christian habit of life, and congregations were larger than ever. Worship was maintained at several places, native Christians sharing in its conduct. One of the missionaries held services at the king's village, with congregations of 200. A native pastor was able to take entire charge of the Sabbath 438 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD services for part of the year. Schools for boys and girls were flourishing, village schools being tributary to those of higher grade at the stations; some of the more advanced pupils in the boys' school had read every book in the Bailundu tongue; the most promising were beginning to be taught English. It was a joy to watch the development both in mind and heart of some of these eager young men just out of savagery. Chisamba was showing the benefit of the ampler support given to it through the loyalty of the Canadian churches. Under Mr. Currie's leadership, work at this station developed strongly. Organized in 1888, it could report in 1896 that no case of church discipline had occurred, the examination of candidates being entirely in the hands of the church. The calendar of a Sunday at this station showed one meeting fol- lowing another almost without intermission; in addition to the usual preaching services and Sunday-school classes, there were early morning evangelistic services, conducted by native leaders, and attended by all the young people of the station, while on Sunday afternoons the young men went in bands to the different villages to repeat the message of the day. By the time the new century opened, the church attendance at Chi- samba was seldom less than 400, with 100 catechumens under instruction; the witness of renewed lives was everywhere to be found. Some stories, like that of Kanjundu, the Christian chief of Chiyuka, deserve place among the heroic tales of missionary history. The growing disposition of the Portuguese to lay firmer hands upon their provinces, together with their jealousy of Difficiilties the missionaries' increasing influence, fomented with the trouble. Assertion of Portuguese authority over Portuguese the kingdom of Bailundu was not effected without an attempt at revolt, which, though quickly subdued, occa- sioned violent deeds and caused a temporary check to the mission, although the missionaries themselves suffered no injury. Yet work went on, increasing in amount and enlarging SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA 439 in scope. Medical and industrial features soon were added, with the rudest sort of outfit at first, but advancing to better accommodations with the coming of missionaries qualified for these tasks. The industrial department at Bailundu proved its value, as the young men became able to do most of the building and repairs, work in the shops, at the printing press, and in photography. Two new stations were opened, one at Ochileso and the other at Sachikela. The growing disposition of the government to hinder the missionaries showed itself in 1908, when, as Dr. Stover was absent on furlough, notice was given of his expulsion on a trivial and unproved charge. Many traders, also, were showing their dislike to having mis- sionaries about. Persistence and patient effort on the part of Dr. Stover, who remained at Lisbon for a year and a half awaiting decision on his appeal, with the good offices of the United States government through Minister Bryan, brought at last, in January, 1910, an order permitting Dr. Stover's return to the mission. The victory was won, not simply in this particular case, but for all the Angola missionaries and for the security of their interests. Thus on the west as on the east of Africa the Board's missions come to the centenary year with a stronger life and a yet brighter outlook. Chapter XXIV ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC It is significant of the change in the map of the world during the last century that within its time four lands where the ,pj^g Board had missions, India and Ceylon, Africa, Micro- Islands as nesia, and the Philippines, became the possessions of Colonial Christian powers. In all this transfer of territory Posses- none of the fields was more disturbed than Micro- ^^°^^ nesia. As the Pacific* Ocean became of larger politi- cal and commercial importance, colonial ambitions brought into new and for a time unhappy prominence these ''pin-points of creation," as Mr. Doane called the ''little islands." Fortunately these disturbances did not come in the first years of this period or until foundations had been somewhat Quiet firmly laid. The early '80s saw missionary Years work in Micronesia progressing quietly along the Preceding ^ew lines that had been devised. With the head- quarters, including the training-schools, for the Gilbert and Marshall Islands at Kusaie and for the Carolines at Ponape, native pastors and teachers were left more largely in charge of operations in the several groups. Miss Lillian S. Cathcart, the first unmarried woman to be sent as missionary to Micronesia, came to Kusaie in 1881 and Miss J. E. Fletcher to Ponape the year following; there- upon woman's special effort for woman was fairly under way. The groups of islands were now regarded virtually as separate missions, since in language and customs they were so unlike. In this division of the field Mr. Walkup came to have general supervision of the Gilbert Islands, by the illness and enforced 440 ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 441 withdrawal to Honolulu of Mr. Bingham; Dr. Pease of the Marshalls; Messrs. Sturges and Doane of the work at Ponape, with native pastors on Pingelap and Mokil in the eastern Carolines; while in the central Carolines the new enterprise in the Mortlocks and in Truk lagoon was in charge of Mr. Logan, with headquarters at Truk. The annual voyage of the Morning Star III from island to island, and group to group, starting at Kusaie, was the one opportunity to transfer scholars and locate teachers, to convey mission supplies, to inspect work, and to bear for a few hours, or at best a few days, the cheer of Christian sympathy. The vicissitudes of storm and current often shortened these visits and sometimes prevented them altogether; there was always apprehension that the vessel might be lost. So, indeed, the third ship, in 1883, was driven on a reef at Kusaie. The fourth Star, with auxiliary steam power to save her from these perils, continued in service till 1900, when she was sold to avoid heavy repairs, a schooner being secured to make the tour of the islands in her place in 1903. Number five, a small steamer, was taken out in 1904, but the unexpected cost of her maintenance at length made it seem unwise to keep her in commission, especially as the growth of trade now brought more vessels to these islands. Thus, in 1908, this last Morning Star was sent to the United States and sold. Both the faithfulness and ability of many of the Christian natives left in charge of islands were remarkable and beautiful . to see; Moses and his wife Zippora, after a year of Leadershio ^^^^^^^ P^^^^ ^^ Truk, during which they kept quietly at their task, succeeded in establishing a school and in winning some hearers and inquirers. When the Star arrived, in 1880, at Apamama, where another Moses had been the teacher, it was found the time had come to organize a church. The Sunday spent there was a day long to be remembered. After continuous examinations by the missionary through the preceding day and night and up to ten o'clock in the morning, 442 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD all went to church, where thirty-one couples were united in Christian marriage, seventy-one candidates for church mem- bership baptized and received, two deacons chosen, and the Lord's Supper celebrated for the first time on the island. The congregation numbered 200, among them the king, who would gladly have joined also ''if his fourteen wives had not stood in the way!" These annual tours revealed many happy surprises. Mr. Rand, comparing the conditions with what he observed on a similar voyage eight years before, noted great gain. On one island, Nonouti, which then was a perfect picture of heathenism, with a rabble in the church so brutal and fierce as never to be forgotten, there was now a quiet, well-behaved company, earnestly listening to the speaker as he preached to them the gospel. It seemed as if it could not be the same race of beings. A conspicuous witness to the worth of missionary work in these little islands was thrust upon the world's notice in 1882, when five survivors of a party of twelve natives of Apamama were rescued from their cockleshell of a canoe 600 miles from home on the open sea. For six weeks they had been knocked about by the shifting winds of a monsoon, with only a httle pulverized banana for food and a small supply of water. "A more devoted band of Christians I never met," said the captain who found them. When first hauled out of their boat, more dead than alive, they joined their leader in giving thanks to the Almighty. The old man of the party had but this word of English to utter, while pointing to himself and then upward, *'Me missionary." The visits of the Star disclosed other than cheering condi- tions. The same year that the church was organized at Apa- The mama, on another of the Gilberts, Tapituea, there Other were found dreadful conditions of warfare and S^^® . reaction. The people were raving against mission- aries and fighting a religious war, one party professedly Chris- tian and the other heathen. Because the heathen would not ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 443 submit to be taught, but chose to dance and carouse, a native Hawaiian teacher called upon his followers to fight the enemies of the Lord. In the battle which ensued hundreds of men, women, and children were indiscriminately slaughtered, their bodies then being burned. The missionaries were continually disappointed and chagrined at seeing individuals and some- times entire islands, after years of fairly steady growth, sud- denly collapse into a wild orgy of heathenism. Yet, taking the years together, it was certain that progress was being made; despite all, there were numerous shining examples of trans- formed life and steady and disciplined character. Considering all the situation, the true wonder was that the lapses from Christian life were not greater and that so much was being accomplished with these low and disadvantaged peoples. Chiefs and people in islands not yet reached were now calling for teachers. The Morning Star was continually besieged with In New such appeals. Even Polowot, in the western Caro- Locations lines, whose inhabitants were the fierce robbers and and in Old rovers of that part of the ocean, was seeking teachers. Within six years of the start in the Truk lagoon four islands already had churches and schools with native leadership and new locations were opening. The pressure upon the insufficient missionary force was now very heavy, particularly in providing for the schools where there was utter need of all kinds of instruction. In the train- ing-schools, both for young men and for young women, pupils were taught the care of house and clothing, the preparation of food, and some farm work, the school farm being made not only a means of education, but a source of supply for the table. By 1885 eighty pupils were preparing to help the people of their races, while among the islands some forty day schools, taught by natives, cared for 2500 pupils. In the Gilberts six Hawaiian missionaries, appointed and supported by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, were taking most 444 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD of the pastoral care, with the assistance of twelve native teach- ers trained in the schools at Kusaie; Mr. Walkup making yearly visits for examination and counsel and to transport pupils to and from the training-school. Of the Gilbert Islands, nine were now organized with Christian institutions; eight of the Marshall Islands were similarly occupied. The American Board did not cease its concern for the prog- ress of Christianity in the Sandwich Islands with the transfer The of its interests there to the care of the Hawaiian Hawaiian Evangelical Association in 1863. The annual Islands reports still summarized the progress of the year in Again those islands, and not until 1871 was the mission spoken of as fully graduated. In 1877 the Hawaiian Islands reappear in the story of the year. Hawaii had become the ''crossroads of the Pacific"; ships and traders were visiting it in increasing numbers; immigrants were pouring in to become laborers on its sugar plantations. Soon there were more Chi- nese in the islands than male Hawaiians, and Japanese were fast arriving. The tendency was to crush out both morally and industrially the more indolent and unstable natives. So long as the islands were isolated and life was simple, the means of training established by the missionaries sufficed. If the work of the past was to be safeguarded in the new times it was necessary to reenforce Christian influences. To this end the theological school at Honolulu was remodeled and the name changed to the North Pacific Institute, of which Rev. Charles M. Hyde, D.D., was put in charge. Its aim was to prepare Hawaiians for work in the Gilberts, to train a more adequate ministry for the native churches, and to stimulate Christian life and devotion. The Board now undertook the partial maintenance of this Institute and, with the same object in view, aided the board- ing-school for boys at Hilo while contributing also toward a special mission for the Chinese in the islands, undertaken in 1881 for the Hawaiian Board by Rev. F. W. Damon, son of ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 445 the chaplain of the Seaman's Friend Society at Honolulu. A further plan to send out from this country general mis- sionaries, each to take a separate district or island for evan- gelistic work, was soon abandoned. Some time after the beginning of efforts for the Chinese a missionary was sent to labor among the Japanese, this task falling for a short while into the competent hands of Rev. O. H. Gulick, detailed to it in 1893 from his experience in the Japan Mission. In stimulating and wisely aiding the native churches of Hawaii, the children of missionaries, many of them engaged in commercial life on the islands and interested in all their best welfare, were coming to bear a large part. Both in counsel and in gift no better or more loyal friends of the American Board, or of the work of evangelizing the island world, have appeared than many of the children and grandchildren of the early missionaries to the Sandwich Islands. A political revolution, after various shifts, ended in the annexation of Hawaii to the United States in 1898; no longer could it be considered foreign missionary ground. Indeed, one year before that date the Board was able to withdraw the last item of its aid, the grant toward the North Pacific Insti- tute; by 1897 the Hawaiian Islands as a mission field again disappeared from the annual reports of the American Board. In 1887 Spain and Germany were disputing the ownership of the Carolines. Spain claimed them by right of discovery, Spanish but Germany was already ruling in the neighboring Oppression, Marshall group. When the issue was referred to 1887-90 the Pope as arbitrator, he decided that Spain should have the Carolines, but left the Germans in possession of the Marshalls. The missionaries could not but be apprehensive, as Spain proceeded to take firmer hold of her now authorized possession. In March, 1887, a man-of-war arrived at Ponape, bringing a governor for the island, six priests, fifty soldiers, and twenty- five convicts. The governor made fair promises, although 446 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD requiring that instruction in the schools should now be given in Spanish and that there should be no antagonism to the Roman Catholic Church. Almost immediately, however, the demoralization of the natives was begun by the soldiery and the convicts, who also encroached upon the mission premises and interfered with their affairs. When Mr. Doane ventured to protest, he was promptly arrested and closely confined on board the Spanish man-of-war; after two months' delay he was sent as a prisoner to Manila. Upon prompt action by the United States consul at Manila, the Ponape governor was recalled and a Spanish transport restored Mr. Doane to full rights and privileges on the island. Meanwhile the natives had revolted against the intolerable rule of the tyrant and had nearly annihilated the force sent against them. The return of Mr. Doane in August, 1887, the coming of a new governor in October and the arrival of a United States vessel, restored order and gave a chance for the reorganization of missionary work. For a time all went well. But later, by a breakdown of Mr. Rand's health, due to the strain of the times, only Miss Palmer and a trader's widow, who was aiding in the mission, were left in charge on the island. Encroachments and outbreaks were renewed. Upon the coming of the Morning Star to relieve the ladies, the governor accused them of aiding in resistance to authority, and ordered them off. Work was stopped perforce, and the Star took away the schoolgirls belonging in other islands, while Miss Palmer and Mrs. Cole led to a place of safety the Ponape girls whom the governor would not allow to leave the island. The empty mission settlement was immediately bombarded and the buildings fired; Mr. Rand was confined in the Spanish colony; the two women were ordered to leave Ponape. The arrival of a United States warship brought relief, but the station was necessarily desolated, only a few natives being left to hold the ground. One of them, writing to the absent missionaries, told of his weeping among the ashes of the mission church, ISLAISTDS OF THE PACIFIC 447 where other natives who were wandering about joined him, until quite a number gathered; they began to sing and pray together till everyone broke out crying. ''Of the many trying years in the Ponape mission," wrote Mr. Rand, ''this has been the most trying." Not till five years later, in 1895, was an indemnity of $17,000 received for the losses and injury sustained in the two out- breaks of 1887 and 1890. Meanwhile trial and testing of another sort had come in Truk, where the Logans had been toiling at their lonely and In the arduous task. In the care of the five stations in Truk this lagoon, besides the oversight of the Mortlock Lagoon Islands, Mr. Logan was obliged to make long and exposing tours. Much of his traveling had to be done in native canoes, picturesque, indeed, but most uncomfortable; pitching up and do^vn in the trough of the sea, in constant danger of capsizing, with a native boy acting as sliding balance on the outrigger, they involved an experience more exciting than restful. If the voyage lasted over night there was only a low and cramped cabin in which the missionary could lie down on a mat to catch some winks of sleep. Yet the Logans did not quail and, in spite of failing strength, toiled on, exam- ining, counseling, and directing the little communities com- mitted to their charge. Despite many trials of patience and disappointments in individual cases, the missionaries did not lose heart, but real- ized more and more how hard was the struggle against the powers of evil and how slight and unsteady the influences which they could set to oppose them. "What folly," says Mr. Logan, "to expect that these races can take on pure morals and Christian civilization in a few years. Souls can be saved, morals and manners improved, and the seeds of all progress planted and nourished; but the century plant grows quickly in comparison with true civihzation." Appalling burdens rested on this devoted missionary as on 448 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD those in other islands, of whom he is representative. He must needs get time to translate a little every day; to administer medicine so far as possible to those who are sick; to oversee the raising of a crop of taro, that an entirely unnecessary famine may be avoided; to help Mrs. Logan in cutting and making clothes for the fifty or more for whose attire they were respon- sible. When the Morning Star arrived in 1887, with the helpers so long sought, it was too late to save the exhausted life, which went forth from this world in December of that year. Without physician or relieving medicines, in the face of his own suffering and of the anxiety and grief of his wife, Mr. Logan could yet say of his work, '^ It is worth all we are giving to it ! " " Greater love hath no man than this:" that he lay down his life! It was during this trial that the veteran Dr. Pease, still superintending the Marshall Islands from Kusaie, wrote: "If The missionaries have such a road to travel as Bunyan's Slough of Pilgrim, I think our mission has arrived at the Despond Slough of Despond. Mr. Logan gone; the mission- aries driven from Ponape; the Gilbert Islands Mission without a head; and the prospect is that the Marshall Islands Mission will be in a like condition in the near future; if these people are ever to have the Scriptures in their own tongue, I must devote myself to translating, and who is to take my place here?" In the Gilbert Islands field the death of Mrs. Walkup com- pelled the closing of the training-school at Kusaie while Mr. Walkup brought his children to America and until the arrival of the Channons in 1890. Soon after, Mr. Walkup returned with the Hiram Bingham, henceforth to be his home and con- veyance, as he gave himself to constant touring in the Gilbert group. Dr. Bingham's Gilbertese Bible, which he began in 1859, the year after he arrived at the islands, appeared from the press in 1890, when this field was more strongly equipped than ever. But in the interruptions the Christian fife of the natives had sagged, and the transfer of the group to Great ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 449 Britain in 1892 for a while worked adversely. The first English governor, seeking to be tolerant in his rule, unfairly- aided the scheme of the French Catholics, and so temporized with evil customs that many natives turned liberty into gross license. The next governor brought a firmer hand; at length ground was recovered and schools widely established, while Protestant teachers were sought for all the islands. In the Marshall group practically famine conditions existed on some of the islands from the excessive demands of rulers and chiefs upon the natives' scanty supplies. The question of concern was always the personal question of the official. Here, too, a new governor relieved the strain; work in the Marshalls straightway began to show splendid results. Unfor- tunately, his stay was short, and his successor was of another temper. In the Carolines the missionaries, banished from Ponape, found a temporary dwelling-place on Mokil, some sixty miles eastward, where the natives, who had learned something of Christianity from a reformed white trader, gave them welcome and a chance to work until they should be able to reestablish themselves on Ponape. But before that time came, worn out by the anxieties and disappointments, Mr. and Mrs. Rand and Miss Fletcher were obliged to return to America. A tornado, tearing over the western Carolines in 1891, wrought terrible destruction in Kusaie. Mission property was destroyed or badly injured, native houses demolished, and the trees on which the life of the people depended were mostly overthrown. Following the supply ship, which arrived just as they were on the brink of famine, came the news of the schooner Robert W. Logan, commissioned to tour in the Truk lagoon and among the Mortlocks, and bringing sorely needed reenforcements. The benefit of this small craft was great while it lasted, but she was lost in 1893, as was a second vessel of the same name in 1898. One of the heaviest trials of this time in the islands was 450 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the sense of isolation which rested upon all. On the eve of the Spanish-American War, when the missionaries knew that something was happening, they were left long in ignorance of what it was and of how it was to eventuate. During that year the Morning Star could not make her usual voyage; supplies were sent down by a neutral ship. A Japanese trad- ing vessel brought a mail to Truk, telling of the war; but where was the Star? and what would happen if she did not come? and what effect was the war to have on the future of these islands? The missionaries could not even communicate with one another; word was sent to Truk that the Spanish governor had forbidden the captain, who usually brought the news, to visit them or to give any reason for his absence. In such darkness and uncertainty they struggled on. The war between the United States and Spain revolutionized the situation in Micronesia. As it brought to this country a 'Pljg new prestige in the islands of the Pacific, so it Spanish- stripped Spain of her power there. In the Philip- American pine islands and in Guam, as well as in Hawaii, War, 1898 ^Yie United States now had colonial possessions. A wide door of influence and opportunity was opened for the mission Board representing this newly dominating power. Spain now sold the Caroline Islands to Germany, after twelve years of bitter tyranny, and the Germans took possession, amid great rejoicing of the people, near the close of 1899. Henry Nanepei, released from prison, was able once more to lead his people and wrote, in behalf of 350 faithful Christians on Ponape, appealing for the immediate return of American missionaries. The way was open for the renewal of work, with the German governor guaranteeing religious liberty and warning those Spaniards who were left that they must not promote religious strife. After nine years of absence the Ponape Mission was reopened in 1900, the missionaries receiving a genuine ovation from Nanepei and his fellow Christians. In all the groups work now took on a new and more cour- ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 451 ageous aspect. The German government proved itself friendly, though requiring the use of the German language and indi- cating its wish that German missionaries might be secured or those who were familiar with the German tongue. The principal Marshall Islands, all the Gilberts, and a large number of the eastern Carolines could be reported as occupied by the Board in 1902. A religious awakening in Kusaie in 1902-03 resulted in outwardly Christianizing that island. An event of the war with Spain that seemed almost like a bit of comic opera was the accidental and bloodless capture Guam by a United States vessel of the little island of Opened Guam in the Marianas. Whereupon a mission of and Closed the Board was opened there in 1900 by the transfer of Mr. and Mrs. Price from Truk, Miss Mary A. Channell joining them in the undertaking. The United States author- ities welcomed the missionaries and a location was found in some of the old Spanish buildings at Agana. In 1905, after the unavoidable withdrawal of the mission's founder. Rev. and Mrs. H. E. B. Case took up the task and maintained it during the succeeding five years. They found the natives a simple people, speaking the Chamorro language, into which portions of the Bible had been translated and by means of which the gospel has been preached to whoever would listen. Some converts have been gathered; some schools maintained. But the Roman Catholic influence has proved very strong, and the United States officials, while friendly, have not rendered much direct assistance. At length it came to be felt that the enterprise, to be efficiently conducted, required an outlay in life and effort under the circumstances hardly justified. After several unsuccessful negotiations for transfer to other Boards, and through the necessary withdrawal of the Cases in 1910, the mission has been left with only a native in charge. Two small islands of Micronesia, not far apart though in different groups, where the American Board has missionaries, have been brousiht somewhat into the world's notice because 452 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD of the discovery on them of rich deposits of phosphate having commercial value. At Nauru, or Pleasant Island, be- Nauru and longing with the Marshall group, though widely Ocean separated from it, the company organized to work Island these deposits has opened up an industry, not only for the 1500 natives living there, but for laborers brought from other islands and other lands. The managers of this English company have shown themselves very friendly to mission work and have generously helped Mr. and Mrs. Delaporte, notably through the free transportation of these first missionaries and their supplies. Thus within seven years the enterprise of these missionaries, who have been supported by gifts from the Central Union Church of Honolulu, has developed a remarkable mission field, having substantial buildings, including churches, schools, and mission houses, with congregations and schools at different points about the island, a growing literature of Scriptures and other books, a vigorous and influential, if compact, mission field, which is full of promise for the people of several races crowded together on this one island. The other of these fields of some commer- cial importance is Ocean Island in the Gilberts, where, under somewhat similar conditions, Mr. and Mrs. Channon are developing the new headquarters of the Gilbert Islands work, including the establishment of a training-school, in which a score of young men are preparing for Christian leadership in their native islands. The shifts of authority in Micronesia, while they greatly cleared the sky for the Board's missions, did not remove all Obstacles difficulties. Another and fiercer tornado, in 1905, andOppor- swept Kusaie almost bare. When the missionaries txmities went to Ponape they found the case still worse there; twenty people had been killed and nearly 400 in- jured. The same year a tidal wave in the Marshall Islands caused great loss of life and property, and entailed a new burden for relief and encouragement on the worn missionaries. ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 453 Yet more serious troubles pressed upon them here and there. In the Mortlocks a tidal wave of heathenism had swept over the islands in 1904, almost engulfing the Christian communi- ties. The stations generally abandoned themselves to vice and shame; it seemed that few remained true. The mission- aries had fresh occasion to remind themselves of the patience of God with his fickle and faltering children. As German rule in the Carolines and Marshalls grew firmer, it became clear that German methods and ideals of missionary- undertaking were desired. Also the awakening missionary zeal of the Christian Endeavor Societies of Germany led them to seek a part in the work on these German islands. After repeated overtures from this German Jugendbund, and upon careful arrangement with them and with the Liebenzeller Mis- sion, which engaged to assume the responsibility and super- vision of the venture, the American Board transferred to them, in 1907, its interests on Ponape and Truk. Ordained German missionaries are already conducting with good success all work on the former island and at some points in the Truk lagoon. Upon the arrival of certain German teachers, in 1909, to take charge of the girls' school at Truk, the Misses Baldwin who, without furlough or rehef, had maintained it against heavy obstacles for eleven strenuous years, were able to with- draw. The Germans are ambitious, also, to take over the work on the Marshall Islands, and it is expected that as soon as their resources and constituency shall have somewhat increased the Board will transfer to them also its undertaking on the islands where Dr. and Mrs. Rife are now the sole missionaries. The close of this period brought two heavy losses to the Gilbert Islands, following closely upon the jubilee of Christian work in this group, which was celebrated with a joyous and impressive convocation in 1908. The first was the death of Dr. Hiram Bingham, the closing work of whose fife, the Gil- bertese Dictionary, went to the islands on the Hiram Bing- ham II, which Captain Walkup took out in 1908. In Brooklyn, 454 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD at the annual meeting of that year, Dr. Bingham had de- clared that he was still under orders and hopeful of going back to the islands; but it was not so to be, for within a few weeks his life came quickly to its end. A second affliction followed in the loss of Captain Walkup, whose word was trusted and whose will was law to multitudes of natives whom he knew by name and by heart through all the Gilbert group. Caught in a sudden squall, the Hiram Bingham II was over- turned on May 4, and her captain with his eight companions was obhged to take to the small boat. After rowing and drifting for twenty-two days, at last they came to land, but too late to save the exhausted life of the heroic missionary. In the enthusiasm of interest in the Philippines as they became a new possession of the United States, and with an The Mis- encouraging gift from an individual who urged that sion to the the Board undertake labor in that great field, the Philippmes latest mission of the Board was begun in 1902. By an agreement made between missionary societies to prevent overlapping of work, the territory assigned to the American Board for evangelization was the large island of Mindanao, in the southern part of the group, a wild and unexplored country containing 500,000 inhabitants, fifty per cent of which were nominally Roman Catholic, thirty per cent Mohammedan, the rest pure pagan. The Moros constituted the Mohamme- dans. The pagans were found to be of a raw and wild type, presenting a new and astounding race of people to be citizens of the United States. As in the earlier missions of the Board, the first attempt in this field was in the way of investigation before settling definitely locations or lines of effort. The first missionaries were Rev. and Mrs. R. F. Black, who located at Davao in 1902. Some unpleasant experiences at once with Catholic priests indicated that care was necessary in making advances. In 1908 Dr. and Mrs. C. T. Sibley were sent out, to be maintained by the Mindanao Medical Association, a company of gentlemen in New York, interested in contributing 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8~ 20° Longitude East from Greeuwicli 124' ^.« ^ THE AMERICAN BOARD Babuyanes *^ Islands ^.c:. Q MISSION TO THE ..^CEngano PHILIPPINES Station : • Davao Out-station s:% Cagayan ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC 455 to the development of this phase of Christian missions in the PhiHppines and desirous of operating through the American Board. Further exploration and closer contact with the people have made it clear that the American Board Mission has a splendid field to cultivate and one full of promise. If few results have as yet appeared, they are significant. A church with a small membership has been formed and one capable and devoted Filipino evangeHst has been found. Already there are many children under instruction, the Scriptures have been translated into the dialect, and in town and village, as well as beyond into the wilderness, the gospel has been preached. The Board is this very year somewhat enlarging its work, in part through the increasing help of the Medical Association, by the commissioning of another missionary and the provision of a hospital for Dr. Sibley's important department. A sudden riot or insurrection in the early summer of 1909 involved the missionaries in some danger for a few days, but they escaped injury, and the disturbance was quieted without much interruption. If this mission of the American Board has been a little slow in getting under way, its prospect of efficiency and success is not less than that of other missions in the Philippines. Chapter XXV IN PAPAL LANDS The opening of the third period of the Board's century found the missions in Papal Lands scarcely more than located. Creating ^^ Mexico, indeed, a new start was necessary after a New the massacre; in Spain and Austria the first churches Atmosphere had been organized; also schools and other agencies. These missions were now to justify their undertaking and to show their real value; that they were not in operation simply to make converts to Protestantism, but to stimulate a new spirit of religious freedom and to instil evangelic faith in lands where Christianity was fettered. For in these fields the record is mainly one of a slowly changing temper, showing its influence not immediately or chiefly in new institutions, but in new relationships and attitudes within the established order. Spain Acceptance of the Protestant faith even at the beginning of this period involved so bitter consequences in the north Against oi Spain that many withdrew to South American Many ports to avoid persecution. The mother church at Adversities Santander was thus kept one of the smallest in the mission. In 1881 the station and Girls' School were removed to San Sebastian, nearer the border of France and on a through line of travel. The new location proved to be a more con- venient and favorable center for missionary work. The removal of Rev. T. L. Gulick and wife because of the former's ill health would have cut in two the small mission force, save that Mrs. WilHam H. GuUck had secured Miss 456 I 2 '. 3 .' "^ ' ^ , I V ' J ' Longitude from 5' Greenwich West Bay o !/' B i s c a y n La Coruna^ Gijon/ Finisterr'eU • Santiago fBilbao^ Pau Burgos ^^iHv I 1 ^ S Braga '.--ysflladolic Oporto ^ »/ rr* ) ^lamanci (i® /Zaragoza Barcelona JJl Tortoaal^Tarragona C.R"oc3C5^>sbon ,,.rt^< -'Tole'do/ lAranju^^ *>i Alci Bada ^ Evora ,x /_ ,, - /Al Valencia v Maj d/lviza T' ^ ^C- 5,, ..Faro Pall :4^Sevilla^^^^,^Gra:nada >^ Cartagepa v '''"V„,,;,¥delaBUter i^lLj[!i!!!!>^'^ . Vv \he American Board 'Malaga /^Gibraltar(J?'-j^) ^ ^1 Tangier/^''^CCfeuta '^i'^'"' liiv'^^i!' MISSION TO SPAIN Stations :. 9 Madrid Out-Stations:. . . e Bilbao Railroads: 50 100 150 200 250 ^ English Statute Miles 10= Eas ^"^^ ■j^agdeburg -Wittenters ^4tsdam\~vF^^^^^<^^*- ytVe* [Posen /^ -&''> "Warsaw^ ille -^^ fvlottbusi \V Glogau P/ O^ KlalischV. Lodz Leipzig^ Altenbujg .chen:nS:^^%.4^\ ' Plajoex/^ ^i5.-./---^'f?^Aussig ^V.U'^' J>^^ Kladno^ ( r^V*^ Prague ';^» Pii^ ^Breslau \^ ^^.Jyaifgo^d \* Rador ■Vo^ Oppeln "^ ' ^. "V ^((Ratibory The American Board .uawejK;^,ZnairtK ^ s,.'/, MISSION TO AUSTRIA ^}-^^ '30 Jj* ^4^ ^-yy 'S<» 'SS '^o 'as- '70 'rj- 'SO ^HS- V^ >^r /^^ v,r -.A H-700 ^aoo — / MJ-j-o 7 V^do / ¥YJ-o / hUoo / vIj-o — r ¥^oo r ¥^J-0 / ^s.oo / ¥'SO / HIOO ^ — HOSO J ¥o o o / 3 <7J'o / v3 ^o o / 3&yo • 1 3 Sroo j J vj' o 3 7 O o 1 i. bjro 1 3000 1 3Ji~00 J ¥So i 3 '^OO / 3 3 ■i'o / 3 3 O O / 3 S.SO / 32.oi> / J /^o / < /OO / i oJ-o / J ooo / Z9SO ^2. 90 O S.&S'O ^& o o z. yso J" i^yoo (11 ^6jro ^i S.6CO S.3-^-0 i.i'oa :Z.^OO ;i.3^-o j H. 3 o o « ^ / Z.Z. oa ie. /3^o ^ ■ S./00 h S.OSO ■«f X.OOO ^ /^jro ' /S. o o < / / 3-0 *^ J / o o ^ / O ^'O / /ooo / R3~0 ^ o o / / 0 o o . T^'O / / eZ-o ■■ ^ 600 ti*^ !5 ■ -""^ ^'J-C7 „^ j>-oo ^*VfcT> """* ^j>-o .,-^«^ ^Pl iS**-^^ ^OO \^ >>^ — " 3J-0 ^ "x,,^ '^ 5 ►/;; r^T ^oo . ^*' / •f\ S.A-0 y / ■■~-. ^oa /^^ / /J^o ^ - — / oo o-o DIAGRAM SHOWING COMPARATIVE INCREASE IN MISSIONABIES AND NATIVE WORKERS SINCE 1825 Chapter XXVI A NEW ERA Abroad Although this closing period of the Board's first century is eminently the period of increase, the growth has not been The conspicuous in all ways. It has not been marked Developed in the number of missions; twenty now as against Missions seventeen in 1880, far fewer than midway in the century, and with but one mission (the Philippine) opened in the last twenty years. Neither has the large increase been in the number of missionaries, 597 now as against 416 then. Indeed, the roll of general missionaries has hardly been main- tained; there are now but 178 ordained men as against 156 thirty years ago. It is when we turn to the native factor in the mission enter- prise that the figures begin to reveal the growth. Churches have more than doubled in the period, and church membership has increased more than fourfold. The native workers are now almost four times as many as in 1880, 4723 against 1269. Ordained pastors have more than doubled in number; lay preachers have increased fifty per cent; teachers have mul- tiplied nearly fivefold, and other native workers over four- fold, the latter number indicating the diversified lines of work that have developed and the larger part that the natives have in them. In short, the era of native leadership and self-reli- ance in church and community has begun. It has yet scarcely more than begun in many of the stations and some of the missions; it is not advancing at uniform rate in all fields. But it has unmistakably arrived. 475 476 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD This new era is impressively reflected in mission finances. The principle of self-support for the native chm*ch and for the individual native in school and hospital was g® " indeed admitted and somewhat practised during the middle period. But this generation has seen the principle come to wide acceptance and adoption. That the number of self-supporting churches is not yet so large as was expected by this time is due to the many catastrophes which have befallen in mission lands. In South Africa, in Turkey, in parts of China, in India, and Micronesia, immense and unforeseen obstacles have appeared in the path of self-support. In all of these lands, sometimes for long periods, the peoples for one cause or another have been able to do little more than keep body and soul together. Yet in spite of these adver- sities, gains have been made. More than a third of the churches in the Board's fields are now entirely self-supporting and many more provide for a large part of their expenses. More- over, by the payment of tuitions and medical fees, or by con- tributions to schools and hospitals and by gifts of money for evangehstic work in their own districts or in regions beyond, the native Christians have shown not only their loyalty to Christ, but their sense of responsibility for the establishment of his kingdom. The native contributions in 1909, which include gifts of the people for all these objects, amounted to $276,715. As the average day's wage in these several lands is but twenty cents, this sum is equivalent to a gift of over two million dollars by so many of the wage-earners of this country. Not only do these churches provide the money for their conduct, but they are more and more providing the men. Though the principle of native leadership has been Leadersh'o ^^^^P^^^ since Secretary Anderson's day, and though from that time the American Board has led the way among missionary societies in this method of developing missionary work, yet it has been in the last generation that the great advance has been made. It proved A NEW ERA 477 hard and in many cases seemed dangerous to put responsi- bility and authority into the hands of partially trained men, unaccustomed to leadership and undisciplined in exercise of power. The people themselves often preferred to have mis- sionaries as their pastors rather than men of their own number. Church quarrels, such as will occur in lands where Christianity has been longer established, broke up some attempts at self- government. In spite of a sincere purpose to put the theory into practise, there was hesitancy at times when it came to the concrete case. Even so other missionary societies have argued that the American Board was moving too fast in this direction and that by this policy an unfortunate separation was likely to come between the native churches and their pastors, left too soon to their own resources, and the missionaries, thus shut away from the people in institutional work. Yet little by little in all the missions the principle has won its way in prac- tise either through pressure from the missionaries or upon them. Not only in the maintenance of a native pastorate, but beyond that, in a growing oversight of districts, in care of local and district missionary and church extension societies, and by the introduction of their leaders into conferences with missionaries, the churches which have grown from the American Board's work are in this new era actually becoming self-govern- ing and self-propagating as well as self-sustaining. The advance of the native church and community into greater importance has not left the missionaries without a The t^sk. Rather has it enlarged the sphere of their Mission- influence. The new or more specialized lines of aries' New mission work which have appeared in this period. Field g^^(j^ in particular, the higher educational institu- tions, which have been almost altogether the product of these years, have in some respects laid heavier responsibilities upon the shoulders of the missionaries. How greatly the field of education has opened as this depart- 478 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD ment has been reconstructed and systematized from kinder- garten to professional school is shown in part by a comparison of figures. In 1880 no particular mention was made in the Board's annual reports of colleges or institutions of higher grade, save that they were roughly grouped under ''station classes." At the end of the period there are distinctly classi- fied fourteen theological and training-schools, with 210 students, and fifteen colleges, with nearly 1700 students. Girls' schools of high and boarding grade were recognized in 1880 and numbered thirty-seven; now there are 132, growing from 1300 to over 12,000 pupils, nearly a tenfold increase. The other schools of lower grade have nearly doubled, from 709 to 1335, with more than twice as many pupils, 56,000 instead of 25,000. The total number of pupils under instruction in all mission schools of various grades is now two and a half times as large as in 1880, 73,868 instead of 28,000. The last third of the Board's years of life has seen an increase from two to fourfold in this department alone. A larger field of influence has opened for the missionaries in teaching and training this host of picked students and in putting on them the impress of their own Christian manhood and womanhood. As truly and as effectively evangelistic as the work of the touring missionary is this task of the missionary teacher. Here, too, the new native leadership is recognized, as graduates of these higher schools return to serve on boards of instruction or management. Soon the foreign teacher will become less necessary in many of these institutions; for some of them the time of native administration may not be remote. The extent to which the native Christian forces have been The Spec- developed during this period is most apparent when tacle of one sees the Christian community as it exists to- Christian day in some of the older stations of the Board. Centers Aintab, a city of 50,000 inhabitants in Central Turkey, the first point in all the region to be occupied by the Board in 1847, is now a stronghold of evangehcal Christianity. PLAN OF A REPRESENTATIVE MISSION STATION The shaded ^portions indicate land owned by the Mission 1 BARTON HALL (UNION TRAINING SCHOOL dormitory) 2 MALIWADA HINDU GIRLS' SCHOOL 3 WILLIAMS HOUSE (THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY dormitory) 4 girls' school and bungalow 5 mission bungalow, chapin home (widows' home) AND ALICE HOUSE (girls' dormitory) 8 MISSION BUNGALOW AND HARRIS HALL (high SCHOOL DORMITORY) 9 MISSION BUNGALOW 10 MISSION BUNGALOW 1 1 MISSION BUNGALOW, OLD CHURCH, VERNACULAR GIRLS' SCHOOL, AND BIBLE WOMEN's TRAINING SCHOOL 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 MISSION BUNGALOW NEW FIRST CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY JUNA BAZAR HINDU GIRLS' SCHOOL MISSION HIGH SCHOOL, INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, AND UNION TRAINING SCHOOL ananda sadan (small boys' dormitory) second church saliwada hindu girls' school nalegaon hindu boys' school A NEW ERA 479 It contains a Protestant community of 5000, has four self-sus- taining evangelical churches, with native pastors, large congre- gations, Sunday-schools, Christian Endeavor societies, and all the activities of the modern church; is the home of a college with 200 students, with all but two of its seventeen instructors native to the country, and which sends out trained young men as leaders in the professions and industries of the land; supports an orphanage in which are being trained continuously 100 or more children gathered from the region, and a hospital serving the needs of all comers, not only from the city, but from nearly a score of towns and villages round about; and a girls' boarding-school from which teachers. Christian workers, and home makers go forth to become lights in their communi- ties. In all the varied and stirring life of these establishments and of this Christian community the force of native life is powerfully felt. The women of the churches maintain Bible women and are now sending them even to Mohammedan homes. And there is Ahmednagar, on the Board's oldest mission field in India, a veritable hive of industry, with a score of missionaries in residence, and a mission plant comprising twenty or more buildings scattered throughout the city as convenience and need have indicated. With these missionaries are asso- ciated 100 native workers in a bewildering variety of enter- prises touching all sides of the life of the people. Churches, a theological seminary, high schools, vernacular schools of several grades, an industrial school with five organized depart- ments of practical training, teachers' training-schools, girls' schools, a Bible women's training-school, a women's hospital and dispensary, and a rescue home for women are some of the items indicating how the Christian society at Ahmednagar has developed in numbers, importance, and power, and how the forces that are to make over and make Christian that section of India are becoming efficient. For from the theo- logical seminary, through all these different fields of work 480 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD and training, the Christian Hindu labors side by side with the missionary for the upHfting of his people. As one more illustration of native Christian leadership may be taken Foochow, whose story goes back to 1848, before the second period began. In this capital of a province containing over 20,000,000 people, and itself one of the foremost student centers of China, the Board has a station in which all lines of mission activity are in vigorous operation, and in them all, leading or aiding, are to be found the Chinese Christians. In the city and its suburbs are eighteen fully organized and growing churches. The first Christian Endeavor Society in China was organized here in 1885, and the spirit and method of this organization have been of great aid in developing Chris- tian life not only in the churches, but in the schools, particu- larly those of higher grade. In the city a theological seminary combines foreign and Chinese teachers in equal number; the important boys' college, with over 250 students, two-fifths of them either Christian or of Christian parentage; the girls' college, with nearly 100 pupils in preparatory or college grade ; a score of day schools, two evening schools, a kindergarten, and an efficient hospital, are not merely channels of missionary influence; through them, also, Chinese Christians are reaching their own people. Native pastors are ordained over all the larger and self-supporting churches; others assist the mis- sionaries in supervising the smaller churches and in working in the outer districts. A strong evangelistic movement has been carried on in the city and out into the country villages by the Christians of these churches, in union ^vith members of churches of other missions. There is a native home mis- sionary society; Bible women are supported by the Christian women of the churches; evangehstic campaigns are conducted by a union of the churches of several missions. While thus in many or all fields the missionaries have been turning over to native hands much that used to be their own daily care, new and significant doors of influence have been A NEW ERA 481 opened to them. From the early years it has been given to some missioriaries to come into acquaintance and influence with . men of high position in the lands where they have Influence ^^^^^^' ^^^ within the last period there has been far more general opportunity for the missionary body as a whole to affect the life of city, district, and some- times of province and of nation through personal approach to men of power. The results of long years of foundation work have appeared in this way also, as the trusty character of the American Board and its representatives has come to be an article of faith with rulers and men of affairs throughout the mission fields. By fidelity and helpfulness in times of famine or plague, of national disaster or local distress, the missionary of the American Board has won reputation as a faithful and com- petent friend and helper, until even those officials who do not accept his message will often rely on his judgment and his loyalty and turn to him for advice and support in the hour of need. In Japan, upon her advent into world pohtics and relations; in reconstruction days in China, after the Boxer massacres; in Micronesia, in the new colonial readjustments; in India, in her period of groping and unrest; in South Africa, revising her pohcy in native affairs; and, last of all, in Turkey, in the establishment of constitutional government and in the endeavor of local or provincial officers to carry out the provi- sions of the new government, again and again there has gone an appeal to the missionary for help. This is not to say that the missionary is everywhere or in all things gaining a freer hand. In some ways his field has been more restricted with the new stirrings of racial pride or of national spirit; and through all the East the missionary has had to bear some of the odium that has been put upon the foreigner in the land. It has not always been so easy as of old to control students in the higher schools and colleges, or to guide the native brethren in the management of their Chris- 482 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD tian institutions. Yet, on the whole, the gains far outweigh the losses, and the missionary during this last period of the Board's history has come to occupy a stronger and more influ- ential position, albeit, like the Board he serves, a less dom- inant and ruling position than of old. He recognizes that he must accept with new respect, not only the potential strength of the natives for whom he is working, but their actual readi- ness to share in responsibility. If he is to take his part hence- forth as one among equals, it is none the less possible for him to rank first among equals by reason of his longer experience, his broader knowledge, and his deeper and more ingrained love. And as he is willing to lose his life in giving room and leadership to the natives whom he trains, he is really finding a larger life. A further line of progress on the mission fields is in union effort. In this period very notably the different missionary The societies have been getting together, not only in Union of sympathy and good-will, but in cooperation. So Missions rapid and strong has been this movement that there is now hardly a field of the Board's work adjoining that of other societies where some experiment in union is not being tried, and scarcely a year passes without a new project of this sort being reported. The great missionary assemblies, like the so-called Ecumenical Conference in New York, in 1909; the Madras Conference in India, in 1902; the Shanghai Con- ference in China, in 1907; the Edinburgh Conference held this very year, 1910, as they have reflected the temper of the mis- sion fields, have immensely stimulated the disposition to devise plans by which with greater economy and concentration of power the needs of the whole field may be better served. So in one form or another, and in some missions in various forms, as already described, the work of the different societies is becoming more nearly one, and denominational and racial barriers are being broken down. In India they have even formed a National Home Missionary Society, wherein the A NEW ERA 483 Christians of different communions and races are united for an evangelistic enterprise in their land that shall disregard the boundaries of mission or sect or district. In many ways it is apparent that so far as formal organization is concerned, missions and the mission Boards behind them are bound to decrease in conspicuousness and authority that in all lands the native Christian Church may increase. At Home The years following the disposal of the Otis and Swett legacies were heavy for all concerned in the Board's manage- ment. While the annual outlay had been increased, Waters^ the annual income was not growing proportionately. The expectation that by the time the bequests were exhausted and the new missions established the receipts of the Board would be enlarged through the growth of the churches at home and their advancing missionary interest had proved ill- founded. It became necessary to stop at once all further ex- pansion of fields and to limit with increasing stringency the expenditures of the several missions. The burden of debt was either pressing or threatening through all this decade. A Committee on Extra Gifts devised a plan in 1891 for raising an additional $100,000 during the year, themselves pledging one-fourth of it. And the receipts for 1892 did reach $840,000, as against $824,000 in 1891 and $762,000 in 1890. But the following year they dropped to $679,000, never reached $750,000 again for a decade, and showed violent fluctuations from year to year. By special efforts of the Com- mittee of Nine and a generous promise from Mr. D. Willis James of a conditional $25,000, a debt of $166,000 in 1894 was cleared away before March, 1896. The campaign for raising this debt proved once more the love and loyalty of the Board's constituency. The rush of gifts in the last three days, when it looked as though the effort might fail, carried the amount quite above the sum needed. 484 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD In the strenuous efforts of these years to make the receipts match expenditures and to awaken the churches to the require- jjg^ ments of the growing enterprise, several new plans Methods were devised. In 1894 Cooperating Committees were and appointed to aid the district secretaries in the cul- Machinery tivation of their fields. Composed of representative men of the denomination, clergymen and laymen, these com- mittees have ever since been of great service in devising and pressing new methods of approach to the churches. In 1898 the Forward Movement was inaugurated under the conduct of an Advisory Committee, appointed by the chairmen of the several Cooperating Committees. The Forward Move- ment was designed to supplement the ordinary lines of cul- tivation; its particular plan was to interest individuals, single churches, and groups of churches, in the support of assigned missionaries. This endeavor, pursued for three years with vigor and success by Mr. Luther D. Wishard, was at length, in 1905, merged into the general work of the Home Department and linked with other new plans for bringing the churches into more direct touch with the mission fields and to a keener sense of responsibility for their maintenance. So successful has this plan proved that now almost every mission- ary of the American Board and many of those sustained by the Woman's Boards are being supported by some church, individual, auxiliary, or group of auxiliaries. The Board had by this time gotten far away from its early system of numerous districts and agencies through the country. Instead of the eight district offices of 1835 and the six at the time of the semi-centennial, on the seventy-fifth anniversary there was one in New York and another in Chicago; an agency on the Pacific coast was organized as the third district ofl&ce in 1903. Woman's Boards were now conducting a systematic solicitation of gifts far beyond anything attempted by the auxiliaries and agencies of early days. Increasing attention was being paid to publications as a A NEW ERA 485 means of reaching contributors. In 1897 a low-priced mis- sionary paper, Congregational Work, was started by a union of the denominational missionary societies, with a paid sub- scription list of over 104,000 names. As the first enthusiasm for the paper wore away and the churches ceased to subscribe for their members en hloc, this number was more than cut in two. Yet through all its history Congregational Work appealed to a distinct and large constituency and carried to them a monthly report of the home and foreign missionary work of the denomination. In 1909, when the several home mis- sionary magazines were merged into one, the promoters of the new magazine felt that in the interests of that publication they must withdraw from the support of Congregational Work, and it was thereupon discontinued. The Missionary Herald has been maintained and recast during the period to conform to the advancing standards of magazine work, and, though its circulation is less than in the days when there were fewer lines of missionary information, it still has a large and important circle of readers and is the Board's most constant and reliable agency of promotion. A variety of smaller publications, occasional or periodical, was put forth; sketches of different missions; annual summaries; the Envelope Series; and in the last part of the period the Pastors' Series, Quarterly Bulletins, and other special leaflets and pamphlets were devised for different classes. The Ameri- can Board Almanac, begun in 1886, was an original contribu- tion to missionary periodical literature. With its summaries of the year's statistics for all foreign mission Boards, and its wealth of classified information as to American Board affairs, it has proved a welcome handbook both within and without the circle of the Board's supporters. Life and Light, the monthly organ of the three Woman's Boards, has won a large and influential place among the women of the churches, while Mission Studies of the Woman's Board of the Interior has covered in the same way its more limited district. The 486 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD Mission Day spring, jointly conducted by the American Board and the Woman's Boards as a children's paper, has served well its special field. Various books, like the well-known Ely Volume, Dr. Laurie's labor of love through which he exploited the large service of the Board's missions to the general cause of human welfare, with various lives of distinguished mis- sionaries of the Board, and, more lately, authoritative works by several missionaries on the lands where their fields lie, have helped to spread information and to awaken and sustain a growing interest in the work of the Board. The days in which a few men could transact the business of the American Board, write the letters, and keep the records A Solidi- in autograph, and make their slow journeys by fying Busi- stage or boat to visit different parts of the country, ness -^ere now far past. The Board's multiplied affairs and the increased demands upon its officers required the intro- duction of new and approved business methods and apparatus. By the removal of "the Rooms" from the corner of Somerset and Beacon Streets to the new Congregational House at 14 Beacon Street, Boston, in 1898, the Board secured more com- modious quarters and accelerated the work of the several departments, which were then reorganized. Simply as a busi- ness house it was now conducting a large enterprise. In 1895 sixty-nine shipments were sent from the Rooms to eighteen different ports, aggregating nearly 2000 packages, and valued at over $50,000. Through all changes the prestige of the Board, its financial standing, the trustworthiness of its mis- sionaries, and the stability of its plans and undertakings, were unshaken, and each year brought to it added confidence both on the fields of its work and in the homeland. The bills of exchange sent out by the Board were in all its missions re- garded as financial paper of highest grade; not only the formal contract, but the word of a representative of the Board was counted as good as gold. The great and increasing burden in the home administration A NEW ERA 487 of the Board at the middle of this period was the securing of the necessary funds. During the financial depression of 1897 and for the remaining years of the century the StraS ^ supplying of the needs of the treasury became des- perately hard. Receipts fluctuated so widely as to make the heart swing from hope almost to despair. Meanwhile there was dire exigency on many of the fields, and these years of financial shrinkage at home were years of cruel strain abroad. Massacre and depression in the Turkish missions, famine and pestilence in India, war between China and Japan, a religious reaction in the latter country, which threatened the defection of the Kumi-ai churches and the temporary loss of the Doshisha; war again (the Spanish- American), affecting work not only in that empire, but in Micronesia; the overwhelming Boxer uprising in Northern China and Shansi, the rebelhon in Zululand, and the tem- porary alienation of the Christian community there, — all combined to lay upon the supporters and administrators of the Board's work a fairly crushing burden of care and anxiety. That the Board was able to weather this storm, which seemed to break from every quarter at once, and to come through it all without losing a mission or hardly a station, and with no impairment of its financial credit or of the large confidence of its supporters at home and the peoples for whom it was laboring abroad, is a tribute to the wisdom of those who guided its affairs, but even more a witness to the sustain- ing and dehvering grace of God, who in every crucial hour has wrought wondrously for the Board's relief. In 1903 the Twentieth Century Fund was started, its pur- pose being to equalize receipts from legacies year by year, the sums accruing in the years of larger bequests being so treated that part of the gain is held to relieve the years when the receipts fall below the average. In the same year, 1903, a Department for Young People and Education was organized under Mr. Harry Wade Hicks, called for this purpose from 488 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD the service of the Young Men's Christian Association to an assistant secretaryship, and by whom were devised courses of mission study and other measures for strengthening the tie between the youth of the churches and their foreign mis- sionary board. In the midst of these struggles to hft the receipts of the Board so as to prevent either further retrenchment or renewed Mr.Rocke- debt, a controversy was precipitated that for a feller's time added to the burden. Upon intimation from ^^* sources near to Mr. John D. Rockefeller that he might be interested in the work of the Board, since some of his widespread charities had been given in similar lines, a presentation of its higher educational work had some time before been made to him. After interviews and correspondence with the appointed almoners of Mr. Rockefeller's philanthropies, in February, 1905, came the promise that he would give to the American Board $100,000 for definite objects, mainly educational. Upon the acceptance of the gift and its appro- priation the money was paid over as it was needed. When the receipt of this sum, the largest so far coming to the Board from a living donor, became known through acknowl- edgment in the Missionary Herald, protests were made to the Prudential Committee from ministers and laymen, asking that the money be declined or returned, on the ground that the business methods of the Standard Oil Company, of which Mr. Rockefeller was president, were commonly believed to be immoral and injurious. These protests were at once carried into the field of open and popular debate, with sharp conflicts of opinion. The real questions at issue were: Did the acceptance or solicitation of this gift imply an endorsement of the Standard Oil Company's business methods or any judgment as to Mr. Rockefeller's personal character? Did it compromise the ethical standards which a Christian missionary society should maintain? Did the reception of a gift bestowed in this way A NEW ERA 489 bring the receiver into any silencing partnership with the giver? On these questions, concerning which high-minded and clear-sighted men in the Board's constituency took oppo- site views, no formal answer was ever rendered by the Board. Public discussion soon drifted to a host of matters more or less allied. In the minds of many of the disputants the issue reached far beyond the case in hand, so that they seemed little concerned with its facts. Many misleading impressions prevailed, such as that the Board had observed an unusual secrecy in the case of this benefaction until the donor had demanded that he should have due credit for it, whereas the proceedings in the solicitation, acceptance, and acknowledg- ment of this gift were such as had been followed before and have been pursued since in the securing of large gifts from individuals. When the case was presented at the annual meeting in Seattle, in 1905, in the question whether the procedure of the Board's representatives should be disapproved or allowed, a preliminary canvass had showed that the great majority of the corporate body justified the Committee's position. The majority of a committee appointed at that meeting to con- sider the matter took the same ground; but after free discus- sion it was voted to lay on the table both their report and the modified adverse report of the minority, the determining of the issue thus being left with the Prudential Committee. Since then no further action or public discussion upon the question has been undertaken by the Board. But upon fur- ther conference between some individuals, members of the Prudential Committee, and certain of the protestants, it was tacitly understood among them that the Board in soliciting gifts would seek to show consideration for the convictions of those who had been grieved over the course taken. This third period of the Board's hundred years is notable for the changes which have come in the list of those to whom its administration has been committed. Almost every office 490 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD has had as many occupants in the last thirty years as in the seventy years preceding. It is impossible even to mention with briefest characterization the several officials and ange o committeemen who have directed or executed its policies during the time. In an Appendix to this volume will be found their names, which, quickened by the fortunate memory of some readers, or touched by the historic imagination of others, will become eloquent with the record of loving and loyal service such as money cannot purchase or business interest command. Dr. Mark Hopkins was still in the president's chair in 1880 and until his death in 1887. Then came a decade of Dr. Richard S. Storr's diplomatic and brilliant leadership, followed by Dr. Charles M. Lamson's brief term of two years, closed with his lamented death in 1899. During the years since, the president has been Samuel B. Capen, LL.D., the cen- tury closing as it began with a layman in the president's chair. Six vice-presidents have served during this period, though the term of E. W. Blatchford, Esq., covered nearly half the years. Of the eighty-one men who have served on the Prudential Committee since the foundation of the Board, forty-four have been in its counsels during this last period. A new rule, adopted in 1893, limiting the possible term of consecutive service on the Committee to nine years, is in part accountable for this more rapid change. Yet the quickened step and shorter service is to be recognized in every department. Of the twenty- two who have served in one or another secretarial position during the hundred years, ten have come to their task during the last thirty years and six have in that time left the service. While the effect of new rules has been to enlarge and broaden the corporate membership, the tendency does not seem to be to increase the proportionate number of members at the annual meetings, nor has it yet quickened markedly the interest and loyalty of the members or of the churches which have the right to nominate them. Nevertheless, it is believed that a A NEW ERA 491 new and important tie has been secured between the constitu- ency of the Board and the administration of its work. Despite such disturbances in its affairs at home and abroad as have been recounted, the American Board is soUdly based The today. It is far better known and more highly Missionary regarded at the close of this period than it was at Awakening ^]^g beginning. Interest in its work was never so general or so keen as now. Many influences have contributed to this end. The hosts of immigrants coming to these shores from all lands, together with the enlarging of our borders and increase of our relationship as a nation, have compelled the American people to think about the rest of mankind. It is known to everybody now that "there are men beyond the mountains." It is beginning to be recognized that after all the world is one body, with many members; when one suffers, all suffer; when one advances, all must advance. Moreover, the Board's missions have been more generally studied and more closely observed than in the earlier periods. Not only have deputations from the Board visited, in some cases more than once, most of its mission fields, but numerous ministers and laymen have come back from travels with a new vision, to report to their churches and friends what they themselves have seen of mission work. If this closer contact has robbed the mission lands of some of the romance that pertains to the unknown and the far away, it has made the work being done for them better appreciated and more commanding. The annual meetings have shown this increasing regard for the Board. While they were largely attended and earnest in the early part of the period, as at the Diamond Jubilee in 1885, in Boston, or just afterward in the years of theological controversy, when the platform of the Board became the field of an exciting debate, a steady growth in enthusiasm has been manifest in the gatherings of these later years; notably in the Haystack Centennial meeting at North Adams and Will- iamstown, with its unfading impression upon all who were 492 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD present and the wider public who read the story of that great occasion, but also in such memorable assemblies as that in Hartford, in 1901, when a debt of $102,000 was lifted amid great rejoicing; at Oberhn,the following year, when the Chinese martyrs' monument was dedicated; at Seattle, in 1905, when the Pacific coast received a fresh baptism of missionary interest; at Cleveland, in 1907, in union with the home missionary societies and the National Council in a notable series of ses- sions; at Brooklyn, in 1908, and Minneapolis, in 1909, regis- tering the rising tide of missionary faith and purpose. Moreover, great contributory forces for foreign missions have been at work in America during the latter half of this period of th« Board's history. In quick succession p®^ . have come the organization of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor (1881), the Student Volunteer Movement (1888), the Young People's Missionary Movement (1902), the Laymen's Missionary Movement (1906). All these agencies have stimulated mightily the foreign mis- sionary spirit in the land: the Young People's Society of Chris- tian Endeavor, though not primarily a missionary society, having loyally turned the vast energies it has awakened toward missions as a commanding business of the Christian Church; the Student Volunteer Movement sounding through the col- leges and universities the challenge to the world's last and greatest crusade, and bringing thousands of young people to devote their lives to missionary service; the Young People's Missionary Movement, educating the youth in the churches by such mission study and missionary giving as will produce a loyal and trained supporting body for the missionary forces at the front; finally, the Laymen's Movement, springing from the enthusiasm of the Haystack Centennial, born in prayer and personal devotion of a little group of earnest Christian men, and effecting in a few years a superb league of the Chris- tian manhood of America bent upon energizing the Christian Church for the systematic evangelizing of the world. A NEW ERA 493 In close alliance with all these organizations, and seeking to serve them as well as to be benefited by them, the American Board has felt their stimulus to its work both in the securing of missionaries and of their support. Within the bounds of its particular denomination also, as the period closes, is recognized a stronger and more general missionary devotion. The Joint Missionary Campaign of 1909 in the interests of all the national Congregational missionary and benevolent societies not only relieved the debts of three of them, including the American Board, but effectively pressed the National Council's Appor- tionment Plan of benevolence upon the minds of the constitu- ency. As a result in this closing year, 1910, by a spontaneous uprising of the laymen and the prompt cooperation of the new Congregational Brotherhood, a most significant effort is being made to unite as never before the churches of this order in a loyal, systematic, and comprehensive endeavor to meet their nation-wide and world-wide responsibilities. In the further- ance of these plans, as in the gains from them, the American Board has had an honorable share. With it originated the suggestion of the joint campaign of 1909, and its officers and constituency generally have been heartily committed to the new policies and plans, thus seeking to exalt missions to their rightful place of importance in the life of the Church. If Carey in the day of beginnings could say, when asked as to the prospects, '' Bright as the promises of God," the American Board at the end of its first century can make its O tl k forecast, not merely by the word of the Book, but as well by the signs that God has written in his sky. With a larger, more intelligent and aroused constituency at home than ever before in the hundred years, with foreign missions recognized and approved by men in every station and walk of life, with pulpit and press ready to champion the cause of the once despised or forgotten missionary, with a world open everywhere save in a few remote corners, with the tools for missionary enterprise in hand, an art of missions 494 STORY OF THE AMERICAN BOARD as well as a science soundly established, and with such break-up of thought and habit among the ancient peoples as opens the way to all teaching of better things, foreign missions have not only a chance but an opportunity and prospect such as was not dreamed of a generation, not to say a century, ago. With old faiths djang slowly or more swiftly, with idols thrown into the streets and temples turned into schools, with a longing for education filling the far East and the desire for national and individual liberties leading to new ambitions and new relationships, every stir in the heavy mass, though it pre- sents new problems and difficulties, challenges the ability and evokes the enthusiasm of all who are face to face with the situation. The signs of the times to those who look with the eyes of Christ upon this world for which He gave himself are inspiring beyond words or measures. The absorbing task of the Christian Church for this new century is to be the welding of the world in the Kingdom of God, wherein it shall appear that all nations are of one blood, of one capacity, and of one destiny in Jesus Christ. To this task of its second century the American Board turns Tvith gratitude and praise for the past and with prayer and great hope for the future. APPENDIXES 496 APPENDIXES Appendix STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE MISSIONS OF THE 1 § Missionaries Church Statistics Missions !i a 03 !3 1 3 -2 .2 "2 a ■i 1 1 o ■+3 'O i .9 0.9 "3 3 o O a If 6 5 3 ^ c > 3 Cl a a o -38 c3 g '^ 'A o o fi^ CQ H PL, O O <: < CQ W. Central Africa . . . 1880 5 22 7 2 10 8 27 46 4 625 101 7.000 2,075 South Africa Zulu Branch 1835 8 23 8 1 7 8 24 166 26 5,837 480 16,620 2,305 Rhodesian Branch . . . 1893 3 4 3 4 2 .5 14 18 2 223 14 500 222 European Turkey . . 1859 5 51 13 — 6 11 30 57 19 1,454 90 4,047 2,512 Western Turkey . . 1819 8 98 20 6 29 25 80 126 44 4,704 143 16,771 10,981 Central Turkey . . 1847 4 56 8 2 19 9 38 46 33 5,561 87 15,228 24,479 Eastern Turkey . . 1836 5 109 12 3 16 15 46 84 45 3,050 140 14,132 7,134 Marathi 1813 8 135 14 4 16 18 52 172 57 7,016 270 1,452 8,030 Madura 1834 10 353 17 — 7 14 38 350 36 6,932 478 21,276 8,296 Ceylon 1816 6 23 3 4 4 4 15 48 20 2,028 93 1,231 4,335 Foochow . . . 1847 5 104 10 4 16 10 40 111 80 2,395 105 5,657 1,990 South China 1883 2 41 3 — 3 2 8 48 3 4,802 422 4,802 300 North China 1854 7 82 18 4 20 19 61 96 9 3,963 242 6.200 1,067 Shansi 1882 2 10 5 2 4 6 17 14 2 203 54 1,305 150 Japan ^ .... 1869 12 55 23 1 25 22 71 29 92 15,384 1485 25,000 9,000 Philippines . . 1903 1 1 1 2 4 1 1 17 3 150 74 Micronesia ^ . 1852 4 38 4 — 6 4 14 150 36 5,126 554 6,919 1.840 Mexico .... 1872 4 52 4 4 4 12 53 22 1,502 122 3,363 1,350 Spain 1872 1 16 i 1 — 4 — 5 16 8 301 36 1,510 1,014 Austria .... 1872 1 102 57 1329 2 |176i 38 198 2 2 188 3 4 600 91 1722 29 1,961 177 7,180 722 Totals . 568 73,084 5096 160,343 87.876 • Of whom nine are physicians. 2 Of whom eight are physicians. 3 Of whom six are physicians. APPENDIXES 497 AMERICAN BOARD FOR THE YEAR 1909-191C Native Laborers Educational Statistics Medical Work 1 § 1 2 "2 a '3 o 1 J 1 § O 1 (0 > 03 H 6 1 bt '" g'o 1 1 1 O 1 ll 1 K B 3 2 1 Q 1 5 § 1 i $1,340 23 152 175 — — — — — — 32 4,091 4,176 5 28,928 10,640 8 25 589 622 — — — — 3 442 73 3,570 4,012 1 1 2,200 711 — 10 12 22 — — — — 3 201 3 314 515 1 2 1,755 7,692 17 18 74 109 3 1 85 4 270 22 512 870 - — — 72,238 38 38 332 408 2 2 580 13 1,313 148 6,634 8,529 3 3 43,133 30,227 13 18 289 320 6 3 431 16 1,236 96 5,372 7,045 2 2 70,475 17,522 20 41 243 304 13 1 202 10 463 151 7,400 8,272 5 5 17,416 5,138 43 41 416 500 28 — — 27 2,365 149 4,467 6,860 2 8 49,748 14,52a 24 143 574 741 53 1 32 11 2,329 226 9,316 11,730 2 1 38,905 12,378 13 13 405 431 3 1 161 3 332 120 10,497 10,993 3 3 13,092 15,364 7 69 228 304 2 2 53 8 894 105 1,945 2,894 4 4 47,016 2,780 2 43 64 109 — 3 — — 2 78 22 581 662 — 1 2,000 2,56^ 7 65 133 205 19 2 73 17 519 40 576 1,187 3 11 31,207 715 — 11 37 48 — — — 6 4 138 4 104 248 2 3 1,859 48,850 68 33 110 211 52 2 72 5 1,156 12 689 1,969 - ~ — — — 1 3 4 — 3 — 1 1 600 6,435 19 41 36 96 14 — — — — 86 — 2,569 — 1 2,000 12,477 6 5 23 34 6 3 349 6 399 754 — 7,264 4 3 25 32 — • — — — 1 — 74 — 717 — — — 7,853 17 7 19 43 — — — — — — — — — — 51 — $276,715 306 648 3764 4718 14 204 15 1695 130 12,085 1372 56,467 70,451 31 350,334 ^ The Kumi-ai churches and the Japan Mission are too closely allied to permit of clear separation in statistics. ^ These statistics are largely those of the previous year. Appendix II OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD elected service ended Presidents 1810. John Treadwell, 1820 1823. Rev. Joseph Lyman, 1826 1826. John Cotton Smith, 1841 1841. Theo. Frelinghuysen, 1857 1857. Rev. Mark Hopkins, 1887 1887. Rev. Richard S. Storrs, 1897 1897. Rev. Charles M. Lamson, 1899 1899. Samuel B. Capen. 1 Vice-Presidents 1810. Rev. Samuel Spring, 1819 1819. Rev. Joseph Lyman, 1823 1823. John Cotton Smith, 1826 1826. Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1839 1839. Theo. Frelinghuysen, 1841 1841. Thomas S. Williams, 1857 1857. William Jessup, 1864 1864. William E. Dodge, 1883 1883. Eliphalet W. Blatchford, 1897 1897. D. Willis James, 1900 1900. Rev. Henry Hopkins, 1906 1906. Rev. Albert J. Lyman, 1907 1907. Rev. Henry C. King. Prudential Committee 1810. William Bartlett, 1814 1810. Rev. Samuel Spring, 1819 1810. Rev. Samuel Worcester, 1821 1812. Jeremiah Evarts, 1830 1815. Rev. Jedediah Morse, 1821 1818. William Reed, 1834 1819. Rev. Leonard Woods, 1844 1821. Samuel Hubbard, 1843 1821. Rev. Warren Fay, 1839 1828. Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner, 1835 1831. Rev. Eliaa Cornelius, 1832 service ended 1850 1873 1864 1846 1869 1849 1850 1859 1832. Samuel T. Armstrong, 1832. Charles Stoddard, 1834. John Tappan, 1835. Daniel Noyes, 1837. Rev. Nehemiah Adams, 1839. Rev. Silas Aiken, 1843. William W. Stone, 1845. William J. Hubbard, 1849. Rev. Augustus C. Thompson, 1893 1850. William T. Eustis, 1868 1850. John Aiken, 1865 1851. Daniel Safford, 1856 1854. Henry Hill, 1865 1856. Rev. Isaac Ferris, 1857 1856. Walter S. Griffith, 1870 1856. Rev. Asa D. Smith, 1863 1857. Alpheus Hardy, 1886 1859. Linus Child, 1870 1860. William S. Southworth, 1865 1863. Rev. Albert Barnes, 1870 1863. Rev. Robert R. Booth, 1870 1865. Abner Kingman, 1877 1865. Rev. Andrew L. Stone, 1866 1865. James M. Gordon, 1876 1866. Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1875 1868. Ezra Farnsworth, 1889 1869. Rev. Edmund K. Alden, 1876 1870. J. Russell Bradford, 1883 1870. Joseph S. Ropes, 1894 1875. Rev. Egbert C. Smyth, 1886 1876. Rev. Edwin B. Webb, 1900 1876. Charles C. Burr, 1900 1876. Elbridge Torrey, 1893 1878. Rev. Isaac R. Worcester, 1882 1882. Rev. Albert H. Plumb, 1903 1883. William P. Ellison, 1903 1884. Rev. Charles F. Thwing, 1886 1886. Rev. Edward S. Atwood, 1888 1886. Rev. Charles A. Dickinson, 1892 1 Member of the Prudential Committee, ex officio. 498 APPENDIXES 499 ELECTED 1888. Rev SERVICE ENDED Francis E. Clark, 1892 1889. G. Henry Whitcomb, 1905 1893. A. Lyman Williston, 1894 1893. Rev. James G. Vose, 1899 1893. Henry D. Hyde, 1897 1893. James M. W. Hall, 1905 1893. Rev. John E. Tuttle, 1894 1893. Rev. William W. Jordan, 1904 1893. Rev. Elijah Horr, 1904 1894. Charles A. Hopkins, 1904 1894. Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, 1899 1896. Rev. William H. Davis, 1905 1897. Samuel C. Darling, 1906 1899. Rev. Edward C. IMoore, 1908 1900. Rev. Francis E. Clark, 1906 1900. Edward Whitin, 1907 1903. Rev. Arthur L. Gillett, 1903. Francis O. Winslow, 1904. Herbert A. Wilder, 1904. Edward M. Noyes, 1904. John Hopkins Denison, 1905. Frederick Fosdick, 1906 1905. Arthur H. Wellman, 1905. Rev. Francis J. Van Horn, 1906 1906. Charles A. Hopkins, 1906. Albert P. Fitch, 1906. Henry H. Proctor, 1906. Rev. Edwin H. Byington, 1907 1907. Rev. George A. Hall, 1908. Arthur Perry, 1908. Rev. Lucius H. Thayer. Corresponding Secretaries 1810. Rev. Samuel Worcester, 1821. Jeremiah Evarts, 1831. Rev. Elias Cornelius, 1832. Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner, 1832. Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1832. Rev. David Greene, 1835. Rev. William J. Armstrong, 1847. Rev. Selah B. Treat, 1848. Rev. Swan L. Pomroy, 1852. Rev. George W. Wood, 1865. Rev. Nathaniel G. Clark, 1876. Rev. Edmund K. Alden, 1880. Rev. John O. Means, 1884. Rev. Judson Smith, 1893. Rev. Charles H. Daniels, 1894. Rev. James L. Barton, 1904. Rev. Cornelius H. Patton. ELECTED service ENDED Assistant Corresponding Secretaries >1824. Rev. Rufus Anderson, 1832 1828. Rev. David Greene. 1832 1894. 1907. 1906. 1906. 1810. 1843. 1847. 1866. 1881. Editorial Secretaries Rev. Elnathan E. Strong (Emeritus, 1907), Rev. William E. Strong. Associate Secretaries Harry Wade Hicks, Rev. William E. Strong. Recording Secretaries 1908 1907 Rev. Calvin Chapin, 1843 Rev. Selah B. Treat, 1847 Rev. Samuel M. Worcester, 1866 Rev. John O. Means, 1881 Rev. Henry A. Stimson. Assistant Recording Secretaries 1836. Charles Stoddard, 1839. Rev. Bela B. Edwards, 1842. Rev. Daniel Crosby, 1888. Rev. Edward N. Packard. Treasurers 1839 1842 1843 1810. Samuel H. Walley, 1811 1811. Jeremiah Evarts, 1822 g 1822. Henry Hill, 1854 1854. James M. Gordon. 1865 1821 1865. Langdon S. Ward, 1895 1831 1896. Frank H. Wiggin. 1832 1835 Assistant Treasurer 1866 1848 1895. Frank H. Wiggin. 1896 1847 1877 Auditors 1859 1810. Joshua Goodale, 1812 1871 1812. Samuel H. Walley, 1813 1894 1813. Charles Walley, 1814 1893 1814. Chester Adams, 1817 1883 1817. Ashur Adams, 1822 1906 1822. Chester Adams, 1827 1903 1827. William Ropes, 1829 1829. John Tappan, 1834 1829. Charles Stoddard, 1832 500 APPENDIXES ELECTED SERVICE ENDED 1832. William J. Hubbard, 1842 1834. Daniel Noyea, 1835 1835. Charles Scudder, 1847 1842. Moses L. Hale, 1868 1847. Samuel H. Walley, 1876 1867. Joseph S. Ropes, 1870 1868. Thomas H. Russell, 1876 1870. Avery Plumer, 1887 1874. Richard H. Stearns, 1875 1875. Elbridge Torrey, 1876 1876. James M. Gordon, 1892 1876. Arthur W. Tufts, 1892 1887. Joseph C. Tyler, 1889 1889. Samuel Johnson, 1897 1892. Richard H. Stearns, 1896 1892. Edwin H. Baker, 1896. Elisha R. Brown, 1901 1897. Henry E. Cobb, 1908 1901. William B. Plunkett, 1908. Herbert J. Wells. APPOINTED SERVICE ENDED New York City 1854. Home Sec. George W. Wood. 1870 Middle District (Formerly Central and Western New York) APPOINTED SERVICE ENDED ASSISTANT SECRETARIES 1903. Harry Wade Hicks, 1906. Rev. Enoch F. Bell, 1909. Rev. D. Brewer Eddy. 1906 1863. Rev. Charles P. Bush, 1880. Rev. Hiram C. Haydn, 1885. Rev. William Kincaid, 1888. Rev. Charles H. Daniels, 1893. Rev. Charles C. Creegan, 1909. Rev. Willard L. Beard. Ohio and Indiana 1863. Rev. Elisha Ballantine, 1866. Rev. William M. Cheever. Philadelphia 1857. Rev. John McLeod. 1880 1884 1888 1893 1909 1866 1870 1870 District of the Interior (Formerly Northwestern District) 1858. Rev. Calvin Clark, 1861 1864. Rev. S. J. Humphrey, 1891 1889. Rev. Alverus N. Hitchcock. DISTRICT SECRETARIES (During the last fifty years) Northern New England 1856. Rev. William Warren. Southern New England 1862. Rev. Jonathan L. Jenkins, 1864. Rev. John P. Skeele. 1878 1863 1870 Work in Nominally Christian Lands 1872. Rev. Joseph Emerson, 1875 1875. Rev. Luther H. Gulick. 1876 District of the Pacific Coast (1903) 1903. Rev. H. Melville Tenney. Field Secretary (1888) 1888. Rev. Charles C. Creegan. 1893 Appendix III INSTITUTIONS FOUNDED OR INSPIRED BY THE AMERICAN BOARD OR ITS MISSIONARIES AND NOW IN OPERATION BY ITS MISSIONS OR IN FRIENDLY ALLIANCE Y^^ITH THEM Several of the lists here presented are quite incomplete; some conspicuously so, as, for example, the kindergartens. It has been impossible to secure full data for the purpose. Moreover, it has been impracticable to include all institutions on the Board's fields. A full list of the schools of boarding, high, and village grades would in itself require pages of space. But what is presented may serve to indicate the number and variety of organized and estabhshed agencies by which Chris- tianity is being \vrought into the life of the lands where the Board has carried it. COLLEGES North China College (Union), Tung-chou, China. North China Union Woman's College, Peking, China. Foochow College, Foochow, China, Foochow Girls' College, Ponasang, China. Lockhart Medical College (Union), Peking, China. American College, Madura, India. Jaffna College, Jaffna, Ceylon. Doshisha, Kyoto, Japan. Kobe College, Kobe, Japan. International Institute for Girls, Madrid, Spain. Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, Syria. Central Turkey College, Aintab, Turkey. Euphrates College, Harpoot, Turkey. Anatolia College, Marsovan, Turkey. Robert College, Constantinople, Turkey. American College for Girls, Constantinople, Turkey. Central Turkey Girls' College, Marash, Turkey. St. Paul's Institute, Tarsus, Turkey. International Institute, Smyrna, Turkey. 501 502 APPENDIXES THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES Union Theological School, Impolweni, Africa. Foochow Theological Seminary, Foochow, China. North China Theological Seminary (Union), Peking, China. Canton Training School (Union), Canton, China. Marathi Mission Theological Seminary, Ahmednagar, India. Madura Mission Theological Seminary, Pasumalai, India. Theological Department, Jaffna College, Jaffna, Ceylon. Theological Department, Doshisha, Kyoto, Japan. Theological Department, Colegio Internacional, Guadalajara, Mexico. Kusaie Training School, Kusaie, Micronesia. Collegiate and Theological Institute, Samokov, Bulgaria. Western Turkey Theological Seminary, Marsovan, Turkey. Central Turkey Theological Seminary, Marash, Turkey. Eastern Turkey Theological Seminary, Harpoot, Turkey. Training School for Pastors, Mardin, Turkey. HOSPITALS Chisamba, Kamundongo, Mt. Silinda, and Durban, Africa. Tung-chou, Pang-Chuang, Lintsing, Foochow, Ponasang, Shao-wu, Ing-hok, Taiku, and Fen-cho-fu, China. Ahmednagar (Hospital for Women and Girls), Wai, and Madura (Albert Victor Hospital and Women's Hospital), India. Manepay (Green Memorial Hospital), Inuvil (McLeod Hospital for Women and^Children), and Karadive (Branch of Green Memorial), Ceylon. Davao, Philippine Islands. Van, Erzroom, Mardin, Diarbekir, Harpoot (Annie Tracy Riggs Memorial Hospital), Marsovan, Sivas, Talas (American Christian Hospital), Adana, and Aintab (Azariah Smith Hospital), Turkey. DISPENSARIES Bailundu, Chisamba, Ochileso, Kamundongo, Chikore, Mt. SiUnda, and Durban, Africa. Peking, Tung-chou, Pang-Chuang, Lintsing, Foochow, Ponasang, Ing-hok, Shao-wu, Taiku, and Fen-cho-fu, China. Bombay, Ahmednagar, Rahuri, Vadala, Sholapur, Wai, Madura, Pasuma- lai, Battalagundu, Melur, Aruppukottai, and Dii^digul, India. Manepay, Inuvil, and Karadive, Ceylon. APPENDIXES 503 Nauru, Micronesia. Davao, Philippine Islands. Sivas, Talas, Marsovan, Van, Erzroom, Mardin, Harpoot, Diarbekir, Aintab, and Adana, Turkey. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS Amanzimtoti and Mt. Silinda, Africa. Ahmednagar (Sir D. M. Petit Industrial School), Bombay, Vadala, Sirur (Sir D. M. Petit Industrial School), Sholapur, and Pasumalai, India. Tellippallai, Ceylon. Sivas, Salonica, Marsovan, Samokov, Harpoot, Bardezag, Oorfa, and Aintab, Turkey. Industrial work is maintained in all African missions, in boarding schools in India and Ceylon, and in orphanages in Turkey. KINDERGARTENS Peking, Tung-chou, Pang-Chuang, and Foochow, China. Ahmednagar and Sholapur, India. Kyoto, Maebashi, Kobe, Tottori, and Miyazaki, Japan. Chihuahua and Parral, Mexico. Van, Mardin, Harpoot, Erzroom, Talas, and Cesarea, Turkey. Sofia, Bulgaria. Kindergartens are provided in connection with many other schools in almost all fields. PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS Orphanages in Bombay, India; Okayama, Kobe, Maebashi, and Tottori, Japan; Van, Erzroom, Harpoot, Aintab, Marash, Oorfa, Adana, Bardezag, Brousa, and Sivas, Turkey. Homes for famine boys and girls in Ahmednagar, Rahuri, Vadala, Sholapur, Satara, and Wai, India. Schools for the Blind in Bombay, India, and Kobe, Japan. Homes for Widows, Ahmednagar and Wai, India. Leper asylum, Sholapur, India. Homes for ex-convicts in Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, and Akiyoshi, Japan. Home for Unfortunate Girls, Miyazaki, Japan. Hanabatake Social Settlement, Okayama, Japan. Factory Girls' I^nae, Matsuyama, Japan. School for Wayward Boys, Tokyo, Japan. 504 APPENDIXES SPECIAL TRAINING SCHOOLS Normal Training School, Amanzimtoti, Africa. Normal Schools at Ahmednagar, Pasumalai, and Madm-a, India, and Sivas, Turkey. Normal Department in Chihuahua, Mexico. Bible Women's Training Schools at Ahmednagar and Madura, India; Kobe, Japan; Foochow and Pagoda Anchorage, China. Kindergarten Teachers' Training Schools at Sholapur, India; Kobe, Japan; Smyrna, Turkey. Nurses' Training Schools at Foochow, Ponasang, and Peking, China; Madura, Ahmednagar, and Wai, India; Inuvil, Ceylon; Van, Marsovan, Cesarea, Aintab, and Harpoot, Turkey. INDEX Abbott, Dr. and Mrs. J. E., 416, 418. Abeel, David, 108, 114, 116, 120. Abeih, 99, 205. Abenaqui Mission, 46, 186. Adabazar, 102, 106. Adams, Dr. and Mrs. Newton, 134, 135. Adams, Miss A. P., 355. Adams, Rev. and Mrs. E. A., 297, 463, 468. Adams, Nehemiah, 307. Adana, 410, 411. Adolescence, period of, 140; day of small things, 140; feeling its way, 142; missionary motive, 143; Cornwall School, 144; agencies and auxiliaries, 145; financial problem, 146; Missionary Herald, 148; public meetings, 149; stim- ulus to others, 150; mother of five, 151; comity in missions, 151; growth from 1810-50, 153; inclusive organization, 154; an opening world, 155; missionary force, 156; development of mis- sionary pohcy, 157; missionary organization, 158; mission growth, 159; superb leaders, 160. Advance, 416. ^gean Sea, 87. Afghanistan, 156. Africa, attempting, 124; a forbid- ding land, 124; first move, 124; staking out the field, 125; a disappointed hope, 127; opening the Gaboon Mission (1843), 128; pressing on, 129; French aggres- sion, 129; the outlook, 130; Zulu Mission begun (1835), 132; characteristics of Zulus, 133; plan of the mission, 133; second step, 135; third attempt, 136; setting down to work, 136; win- ning their way, 137; more rapid growth, 138; the outlook in 1850, 138. (See also Dark Continent, in the, New Fields and Southern and Central Africa.) African Congregational Church, 429. Agricultural and Industrial Insti- tute, 403. Ahualulco, 302. Ahmednagar, 29, 166, 329, 414, 416, 418, 424, 479. Aintab, 106, 197, 198, 224, 319, 327, 388, 393, 395, 397, 398, 399, 405, 478. Aintab, Girls' Seminary, 222. Aitchison, William, 252. Ak Hissar, 392. Albania, 389. Albany, 169. Albert Victor Hospital, 422. Albrecht, G. E., 362. Alden, E. K., 307, 332. Aleppo, 106. Alexander, Rev. and Mrs.W. S., 292. Allevia, 295. Almanac, American Board, 485. Alpine Mission, 466. Amanzimtoti, 329, 429; Seminary, 284, 286, 427, 433, 435. Ament, Dr. W. S., 375, 379. American and Foreign Christian Union, 290, 291, 292. 505 506 INDEX American Bible Society, 222. American Board — How the Board began, 3; conference at Andover, 3; the Bradford meeting, 4; earlier influences, 7; ardor and caution, 9; appointment of first mission- aries, 13; their ordination, 13; their departure, 15; 124, 140, 141, 142, 145, 146, 150, 153, 159, 160, 229, 230, 305, 308, 485, 486. American College for Girls, 389. American Methodist Mission, 384. American Missionary Association, 53, 116, 195, 348, 384, 396. Amoy, 113, 119, 250. Anatoha College, 391, 404. Anderson, Lady, 397. Anderson, Secretary Rufus, 88, 100, 104, 166, 307, 316, 320. Andover, Mass., 3. "Andover Controversy," 330. Andrews, Miss M. E., 372. Anti-opium decree, 380. Anti-slavery, 52, 53. Apaiang, 239. Arabkir, 106, 406. Arabs, Bedouin, 99. Arch, John, 37. Arkansas Mission, 39. Armenia, 197, 385. Armenia College, 224, 327. (See also Euphrates College.) Armenian Church, First Evangeli- cal, 105. Armenian Relief Committee of America, 396, 397. Armeno-Turkish, Old Testament, translation of, 103. Arms, William, 156. Arthington, Robert, 288. Aruppokottai, 421. Asaad es Shidiak, 84, 85. Assyrian Mission, 209, 211. Athens, 101. Atkinson, J. L., 274. Atwood, Dr. I. J., 380. Atwood, Miss Harriet, 14. Austria, 463. (See also Christian lands, in nominally, and Papal lands. ) Avedaper, 200. B Babajee, 29. Bagster, W. W., 337, 338, 339. Baikwa School, 276. Bailundos, 336. Bailundu, 337, 340, 437, 438, 439. Bakeles, 279. Balbodhmewa, 422. Baldwin, T. A., 223; Rev. and Mrs. C. C, 260; the Misses, 453. Ball, Dr. Dyer, 122. Ballantine, Dr. W. 0., 417, 422. Bangalore, 425. Bangkok, 114, 115. Bansko, 214. Baptism, change of views concern- ing, 19. Baptist Missionary Society, 19. Baptist Missionary Union, 150. Barcelona, 293, 426, 462. Bardwell, Horatio, 22, 23. Barnum, H. N., 220, 398. Barrows, J. H., 415. Bartlett, Wm., Esq., 6. Barton, Secretary J. L., 360, 383, 420. Batak country, 117. Bates, Rev. and Mrs. F. W., 342, 343. Bath, Marquis of, 214. Batticotta, 27, 28. Bebek, 103, 106, 199, 217, 328. Bedouin Arabs, 99. Beirut, 82, 98, 99, 100, 101, 205. Benguella, 337. Bequests, Mrs. Mary Norris, 13; Otis, Asa, 315; Phelps, Anson G., 314; Swett, Samuel W., 325. Berry, Dr. and Mrs. J. C, 265, 266, 275, 277, 355. Betanie, 464. INDEX 507 Biarritz, 459, 460. Bible House, 221. Bible lands, reentering, 80; a new- crusade, 80; the land to be possessed, 80; spying it out (1820), 81; Syrian Mission, 83; printing house at Malta, 85; presses transferred, 86; reaching the Greeks, 87; relocating fields in Turkey, 88; tour of Smith and Dwight (1830), 88; Constanti- nople at last, 89; beginning among Armenians, 91; a quick impression, 92; persecution begins (1839), 93; Nestorian Mission (1834), 94; the outlook, 94; moun- tain Nestorians, 95; progress in Urumia, 97; return to Syria (1830), 98; Druzes of the Lebanon, 99; seeing results at last, 100; Dr. King in Greece, 101; Armenian reformation (1840-50), 102; tested by fire (1844), 104; excommu- nication, 105; first Protestant church organized (1846), 105; spread of evangelicalism, 106; looking backward, 106. ( See also Turkey and the Levant and Nearer East, the.) Bible societies, 309. Bible Teaching Band, 364. Bible women, 181, 222. Bibles, burning of, 295. Bihe, 336, 337. Bihenos, 336. Bilbao, 457. Bingham, Rev. and Mrs. Hiram, 57, 61, 67; Rev. and Mrs. Hiram Bingham, Jr., 236, 238, 242, 441, 448, 453. Bird, Miss Isabella, 73. Bird, Miss Susan, 378. Bird, Rev. and Mrs. Isaac, 83, 88. Bissell, Rev. and Mrs. H. M., 298; Dr. JuHa, 422, 468, 470. Bithynia High School, 404. Bithynia Union, 220. Bitlis, 392, 393. Black, Rev. and Mrs. R. F., 454. Blatchford, E. W., 490. Bleeker Street Church, N. Y., 109. "Blind Bartimeus," 75. Blodget, Henry, 252, 260. Bohemia, 297, 463. Bombay, 18, 24, 34, 329, 416, 422. Bombay, Christian Alliance, 182. Bombay, First Church in, 424. Bombay, Missionary Union, 25. Bonney, Mrs. S. W., 257. Borneo, Dyaks of, 118; end of mis- sion, 119. Bowker, Mrs. Albert, 311. Boxers, 374. Bradford, Rev. A. H., 360. Bradford, J. R., 307. Bradford, Mass., 3, 4. Bradley, Dr. D. E., 114, 115, 116. Brainerd, station at, 36. "Brethren, The," 7. Brewer, Rev. Josiah, 87. Bridgman, Rev. E. C, 108, 109, 110, 111, 121, 122, 252, 256. Bridgman School, 370, 371. Brigham, J. C, 290. British India and Ceylon, 165; new period, 165; new method re- quired, 165; deputation of 1854- 55, 166; restricting the schools, 167; establishing native church, 168; board's approval, 168; effect in India, 169; the bearing in Ceylon, 170; Arcot Mission (1851), 172; good witnesses, 172; strug- gle with caste, 174; substantial growth, 174; developing native leadership, 175; revival in Ma- dura (1860-61), 176; develop- ment of mission, 176; upbuilding in Ceylon (1860), 178; Madras closed (1866), 180; woman's work for w^oman, 180; spirit of union, 182; widening influence, 182; famine and harvest, 183. (See 508 INDEX also India and Ceylon, starting in, and Southern Asia.) Brookline, Mass., 263. Brooklyn, N. Y., 454, 492. Broosa, 88, 223, 393. Browne, J. K., 399. Bruin Press, 109. Briinn, 298, 465, 467. Bryan, Minister, 439. Buckingham, Governor, 193. Buenos Ayres, 155, 290. Bulgaria, 212, 214, 389. Bulgarian Bible Dictionary, 401. Bulgarian Evangelical Society, 390. Bunker, Rev. and Mrs. F. R., 343, 436. Burma, 19. Burr, C. C, Esq., 194. Bush, Miss C. E., 386. Bushnell, Rev. Albert, 279. Butler, Elizur, 44, 45. Butrick, D. S., 40. Byington, Rev. and Mrs. T. L., 212. Calcutta University, 424. Calhoun, Simeon, 99, 203, 310. Canadian Congregationalists, 333. Cannibalism, 231, 246. Canning, Sir Stratford, 104. Canton, 113, 122, 253, 257, 349, 382. Cape Palmas, 125, 126, 127, 128. Cape Town, 136. Capen, S. B., 490. Caravan, sailing of, 15, 16. Caroline, sailing of, 232. Caroline Islands, 239, 240, 450. Cary, Rev. and Mrs. Otis, 277, 362. Case, Rev. and Mrs. H. E. B., 451. Caste, obstacles of, 21, 174. Caswell, Rev. Jesse, 114, 115, 116. Cathcart, Miss L. S., 440. CathoHc ladies, junta of, 294. Central Board of Foreign Missions, 151. Central Turkey College, 224, 319, 327. Central Turkey Mission, 386, 388. Central Union Church, Honolulu, 452. Cesarea, 200, 393. Ceylon, 17, 22, 26, 27, 28, 170, 171, 178, 327. Chaka, 132. Champion, George, 134. Channell, Miss M. A., 451. Channon, Rev. and Mrs. I. M., 448, 452. Chapin, Rev. Calvin, 6; F. M., 370. Chapin Home, 416, Cherokees, 36, 46, 186, 187. Chicago, 318. Chickasaws, 43, 46. Chihuahua, 350, 471, 473.. Chikore, 345, 436. Child, Linus, 307. Chi-h, 370, 374, 380, 381. China, edging into, 108; the call (1828), 108; mission begun (1830), 108; opening of work, 109; medi- cal arm (1834), 109; a dark pros- pect, 110; tours of exploration (1836), 111; missionaries' patience, 112; opium war (1840), 113; Siam (1831), 114; located and at work, 115; winning royal favor, 115; transfer of the mission (1850), 116; exploring the East Indies (1833-34), 116; tour of Sumatra (1834), 117; a try at Borneo, 118; Borneo Mission under way (1838), 118; enlarge- ment in China, 119; growing pres- tige, 121; slow progress, 121. In the empire of, 250; the door opens hard, 250; a disturbed country, 250; Shanghai opened (1854), 251; Canton closed, 253; a new era (1860), 254; Christianity's share in the change, 254; the call of the hour, 255; North China at last, 256; in the South, 257; into the interior (1870), 258; fanatic outbreaks recur, 259; steady gains INDEX 509 (1870-80), 260; the door of fam- ine, 261. (See also New Fields and Farther East, the.) Chinese leprosy, 228. Chinese Repository, 109. Chisamba, 340, 438. Chiyuka, 438. Choctaws, 38, 186, 187. Christian Alliance, Bombay, 182. Christian Choctaws, 45, 46. Christian Endeavor, 415, 461, 492. Christian Endeavor Society of China, 480. Christian Endeavor Society of Mex- ico, 470. Christian Herald, 402, 417. Christian lands, in nominally, 290; early purpose, 290; four missions undertaken, 290; the attempt in Italy (1873), 292; beginning in Spain, 292; in the face of perse- cution, 294; a good accomplish- ment, 296; beginning in Austria, 297; driven to relocate, 298; a purer type, 299; mission to Mex- ico, 300; at Guadalajara, 301; at Monterey, 302; assassination of Mr. Stephens, 302; the need of trained workers, 303. (See also Papal lands.) Christian Vernacular Education Society, 179. Christian Witness, 422. Church Missionary Society, 424. Churchill, D. C, 418. Cihcia, 399, 410. Cincinnati, 318. Ciudad Juarez, 471. Clark, Miss E. C, 403. Clark, E. W., 79; Secretary N. G., 231, 307, 319, 328; Rev. and Mrs. A. W., 297, 298, 299, 463, 464, 465, 468. Cleveland, 492. Coan, Rev. and Mrs. Titus, 61, 70, 71, 73, 78, 156, 231. Cochran, J. G., 205. Coffing, J. G., 215. Colegio Chihuahuonse, 471. Colenso, Bishop, 284. College Hall, 379. Collegiate and Theological Insti- tute, 213. Committee of Nine, 483. Committee on Extra Gifts, 483. "Company of the New Covenant," 275. Conger, U. S. Minister, 376. Congregational Association, Dakota, 193. Congregational Brotherhood, 493. Congregational Education Society, 472. Congregational Home Missionary Society, 463. Congregational Work, 485. Congregationalist, 416. Connecticut, 8. Constantine, Mr., 202. Constantinople, 222, 385, 387, 388, 392, 393, 405, 410. Constantinople Bible House, 221. Constantinople Christian College, 217. Constantinople Home, 327. Cooperating churches, 309. Cooperating committees, 484. Corbin, Mr. and Mrs. P. L., 381. Cornwall School, 144. Crawford, Rev. and Mrs. M. A., 468. Creek Indians, 46. Currie, W. T., 340, 438. Curse, by Maronite patriarch, 98, 99. Cyprus, 87. Dairyman's Daughter, 86, 93. Dakota Indians, 46, 191, 194. Dakota Mission, 195. Dakotas, in the land of the, 186; reduction of Indian Missions, 186; 510 INDEX the Dakota field, 188; the Sioux war (1862), 189; the church in prison and in camp, 190; the reestabUshed mission, 192; church fellowship, 193; more Indian ex- periments, 193; maturing work, 194. (See also Indian Trails, fol- lowing.) Damon, Rev. F. W., 445. Dark Continent, in the, 279; the Gaboon Mission, 279; its trans- fer in 1870, 280; the Zulu Mis- sion (1850), 281; still slow and discouraging, 281; mission re- serves (1856), 283; working hard, 284; a cheering decade (1860- 70), 285; broadening the field, 287; tugging along, 288. (See also Africa, attempting. New Fields and Southern and Central Africa.) Davenport, Iowa, 191. Davis, Dr. and Mrs. J. D., 265, 269, 270, 273, 362. Day of Prayer, 150. Day spring, 149. De Forest, J. H., 274, 365. Delaporte, Rev. and Mrs. P. A., 452. Dennis, J. S., 334, 378. Der Heratoon, 222. Des Moines, 330. Deutsche Hulfsbund, 406. Diamond Jubilee, Madura, 491. Diarbekir, 209, 406. Dingaan, 133, 135. Dionysius, Bishop, 84, 87. District agencies, 484. Dnyanodaya, 422. Doane, Rev. and 'Mrs. E. T., 233, 441, 446. Dodd, E. M., 198. Dodge, W. E., 306. Dohne, 287. Dolphin, 65. Doshisha, 272, 273, 353, 356, 361. Doty, Elihu, 120, 251. Doughty- WyUe, Major C. H. M., 412. Druzes, 99, 100, 101, 204. Dube, James, 286. Du Chaillu, Paul, 280. Dudley, Miss J. E., 270. Dunmore, G. W., 200, 210, 211. Durban, 429, 431, 433. Dutch Reformed Church, 150, 151. Dwight, Timothy, 6; H. G. O., 88, 90, 91, 93, 103, 215. Dwight, station at, 39. Dyaks, 118. E East Central Africa, 341. (See also Southern and Central Africa.) Eastern Turkey, 211, 387. Eaton, President E. D., 373. Eaton, Rev. and Mrs. J. D., 350, 471. Ebina, Danjo, 367. Ecumenical Conference, N. Y., 482. Eddy, G. S., 419. Edinburgh Conference, 482. Edwards, Mrs. M. K., 286. Eels, Gushing, 52. Elbasan, 409. Eliot, mission station, 38. Ellis, Rev. William, 62, 230. Ellison, Hon. W. P., 360. El Paso, 472. Elphinstone, Lord, 173. El Progreso, 471. El Testigo, 470. Ely Volume, 486. Emhuscade, 75. Emerson, Rev. J. S., 241. Engonyameni, 431, 432. ' ' Enlightened Party, " 22 1 . Envelope series, 485. Enver Bey, 408. Erickson, Rev. and Mrs. C. T., 409. Erzroom, 102, 392, 393. Esidumbini, 434. Eski Zaghra, 213. Ethiopian movement, 430. INDEX 511 Euphrates College, 224, 399, 406, 409. (See also Armenia College.) Eustis, W. T, 307. Evangelical Society of Geneva, 457. Evangelical Union, 92, 220. Evangelists' School, 465. Evans, Miss J. G., 372. Evarts, Jeremiah, 3, 4, 6, 140. Everett, Edward, 201. Everett, Mrs. J. S., 222. Expansion, period of, 325; in in- come and outgo, 325; in admin- istration, 326; in comprehensive- ness, 330; in organization, 332; in aim, 334. Factory Girls' Home, Matsuyama, 355. Farmington, Conn., 9. Farnsworth, Ezra, 307. Farther East, the, 352; Japan — years of swift increase to 1888, 352; theater services, 352; an awakened empire, 353; still op- position and interference, 353; alUed lines of work, 355; the climax reached, 356 ; the re- action in the next decade, 357; official opposition, 360; *the Do- shisha trouble, 360; growth under difficulty, 362; the reawakening, 363; change in government atti- tude, 365; effect of Russian war, 365; readjustment for advance, 366; China — the time for ad- vance, 368; broadening lines of work, 369; effect of war with Japan (1894-95), 371; the Box- ers, 374; their backing, 374; the massacres, 375; massacre in Shansi, 377; collapse at last of the Boxer movement, 378; re- construction, 379; a decade of marvelous advance, 380; union movements, 383. (See also China, into, Japan and New Fields.) Favre, Leopold, 397. Fen-cho-fu, 346, 348, 377. Ferdinand, Prince, 390. Fiske, Miss Fidelia, 97. Fiske, PUny, 80, 81, 82. Flathead Indians, 46. Fletcher, Miss J. E., 440, 449. Foochow, 113, 120, 257, 259, 368, 370, 372, 373, 382, 480. Ford, Dr. H. A., 280. Foreign Missionary Society of the Western Reserve, 150. Fort Berthold, 192. Fort Snelling, 190, 191. Fort Sully, 192. Forward Movement, 364, 484. Free Church of Scotland, 309. Free Church Seminary, 435. Free Reformed Church of Austria, 463. Free Reformed Church of Bohemia, 299. Frelinghuysen, Theodore, 153, 306. Frere, Sir Bartle, 173. Fukien, 369, 382. Fukuin-sha, 355. Fukuzawa, Mr., 354, 357. Fuller, C. C, 435. Gaboon Mission, 276, 281. Gaboon River, 128, 129, 130. Garguilo, 402. Gates, L. S., 418. Gazaland, 435. Geog Tapa, 97. George, son of king of Kauai, 64. Gifts, Harris, J. N., 357; James, D. Willis, 483; Rockefeller, John D., 488. Gilbert Islands, 246. Gilson, Miss H. J., 436. Glory Kindergarten, Kobe, 355. Godavari Valley, 169. .12 INDEX Goodell, William, 15, 36, 83, 84, 85, 88, 90, 92, 103, 322. Goodenough, H. D., 428, 432. Goodrich, Chauncy, 370. Gordon, M. L., 265, 268, 269, 310, 362; J. M., 307. Gordon Theological Seminary, 372. Gould, Miss A. A., 377. Grant, Dr. and Mrs. Asahel, 94, 95, 96. Grant, Sir Charles, 18. Gratz, 298, 464. Greece, 201. Greek Evangelical Alliance, 389. Green, Dr. S. F., 179. Green, J. S., 49. Greene, Rev. and Mrs. D. C., 265, 269, 278, 357. Greene, Rev. F. D., 396. Grey, Sir George, 284. Greycloud, Rev. David, 194. Gridley, Rev. Elnathan, 87. Griffin, E. D., 4. Grout, Aldin, 134, 135, 137; Lewis, 138, 281, 285, 287. Guadalajara, 300, 301, 303, 468, 469, 470, 471, 472. Guess, George, 40. Guinea Coast, 125. Gulick, Rev. and Mrs. L. H., 231, 232, 292, 293; Rev. and Mrs. O. H., 265, 266, 268, 445; Rev. and Mrs. W. H., 296, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462; Rev. and Mrs. T. L., 296, 456. Gungunyana, Chief, 342. Gutzlaff, Karl, 111, 112, 114. H Hadjin, 396, 397, 411. Hager, Dr. C. R., 349. Hale, Secretary, 5. Hall, 12, 13, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26 Gordon, C. L., 192; C. C, 415. Hamidieh, 387. Hamlin, Cyrus, 103, 199, 212, 217, 328. Hanabatake, 355. Harada, President T., 367. Hardy, Alpheus, 307. Harmony, 15, 16. Harpoot, 200, 217, 320, 327, 386, 388, 394, 396, 397, 406. Harris, Hon. J. N., 357. Harris, Hon. Townsend, 264. Harris, Prof, and Mrs. J. R., 396. Hartford, Conn., 492. Hasbeiya, 100, 101, 202. Haseltine, Miss Ann, 14. Haseltine, Deacon John, 14. Haskeay, 389. Haskell, E. B., 400. Haskins, Miss B. M., 471. Hatti Plumayoun, 196. Hawaii, 321. Hawaiian Bible, 78. Hawaiian Evangelical Association, 443, 444. Hawes, Joel, 83, 100, 104. Haystack, Williamstown, 7, 8, 491. Hazel wood, 189. Hermosillo, 470, 473. Herrick, Rev. and Mrs. H. P., 280. Herrick, James, 176. Hicks, Harry Wade, 487. Hideyoshi, 263. Hill, Henry, 307. Hilo, 62, 70, 73, 78, 79. Hindustani Scriptures, 21. Hiram Bingham /, 448; Hiram Bingham II, 453. Hoapiliwahine, 66. Hobbs, Dr. and Mrs. S. L., 188. Hokkaido, 355, 362, 363. Holman, Dr. Thomas, 65. Homes, H. A., 96. Honan, 370. Hong Kong, 113, 349, 373, 382. Hopkins, Col. C. A., 373. Hopkins, Mark, 306. 331, 490. Hopkins, Samuel, 124. INDEX 513 Horoshima, 363. Hou, Pastor, 369. House, J. H., 400, 402, 403. Howard, Gen. O. O., 193. Howe, Miss A. L., 355. Howland, Mr. and Mrs. John, 468, 470, 472. Hsien Yu, 374, 377. Hula, 228. Hume, R. A., 417. Hume, Mrs. R. W., 33. Hungary, 466, 467. Hunt, Phineas, 31, 256, 260. Huntington, Gen. Jedediah, 6. Husinetz, 465. Huss, John, 465. Hyde, C. M., 244, 249. Ichikawa, 267. Impanyezi, 135, 136. Impolweni, 435. Inanda, 136, 286, 427. India, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 32, 33, 482. India and Ceylon, starting in, 17; a cold reception, 17; rebuffed at Bombay, 18; heavier burdens, 19; the obstacle of caste, 21; the press and the school, 21; begin- ning in Ceylon (1816), 22; opening schools, 23; advance in Bombay, 24; advance on the mainland, 25; heavy losses, 26; educational work in Ceylon, 26; a boarding-school day in Jaffna, 27; higher education (1826), 27; a succession of revivals, 28; Ma- dura (1834), 30; Madras (1836), 31; hard times, 32 ; looking back- ward, 33. (See also British India and Ceylon and Southern Asia.) Indian National Congress, 422. Indian Rights Association, 193. Indian trails, following, 35; early efforts, 35; purpose of the Board, 35; Cherokee Mission opened (1817), 36; quick results, 37; re- enforcements and outreaching, 38; mission to the Choctaws (1818), 38; the Arkansas Mis- sion (1821), 39; developing the establishment, 40; some readjust- ments (1825), 40; new missions, (1826-27), 41; storm breaks, (1828), 42; persecution of mis- sionaries, 44; the forced removal, 45; a new start, 46; disappoint- ing experiences, 47; hard condi- tions, 48; Oregon Indians (1836), 49; Oregon massacre, 51; anti- slavery questions, 52; resum^ (1850), 54. (See also Dakotas, in the land of.) Inhambane Bay, 342. Innsbruck, 298. Instituto Corona, 471. International College, Smyrna, 403. International Institute for Girls in Spain, 459, 462. Inuvil, 422. Ireland, Rev. and Mrs. William, 138. Ishii Juji, 356, 364. Islands of the Pacific, 440; islands as colonial possessions, 440; quiet years preceding, 440; na- tive leadership, 441; the other side, 442; in new locations and in old, 443; the Hawaiian Islands again, 444; Spanish oppression, (1887-90), 445; in the Truk lagoon, 447; the slough of des- pond, 448; the Spanish- Ameri- can War, (1898), 450; Guam opened and closed, 451; Nauru, and Ocean Island, 452; obstacles and opportunities, 452; the mis- sion to the Philippines, 454. (See also Micronesia.) Isle of France (Mauritius), 17. Italian Free Church, 292. Ivory Coast, 127. 514 INDEX Jaffna, 22, 27. Jaffna College, 179, 319, 327, 414, 424. James, D. Willis, 483. Janes, Capt., 274. Japan, 263, 264, 352; in the empire of, 263; the gift of faith, 263; the door closed, 263; the door opened, 264; opening the mission (1869), 265; beginning work, 265; the year 1873, 267; medical work under way, 268; schools opened, 269; the beginning of churches, 271; Neesima and the Doshisha, 271; gaining ground, 274; broadening the work, 276. (See also Farther East, the, and New Fields.) Japan Mail, 368. Japan, northern, 350. Japanese Pubhshing Society, 355. Java, 114. Jerusalem, 82. Jessup, WiUiam, 306. Jesuits, craft of, 297. Jews, Spanish, 90. Johannesburg, 428. Johnson, J. G., 360. Johnson, Stephen, 120. Joint missionary campaign, 492. Jones, Capt., 66. Jones, J. P., 329, 415. Jones, Miss Nancy, 342, 343. Joseph and His Brethren, 129. Joshu, 357. Journal and Day spring, 317. Journal of Missions, 149. Joyful News, 422. Judson, Adoniram, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 17, 19, 76, 143, 144. Judson, Miss Cornelia, 355. Jugenbund, 453. Juji Ishu, 356, 364. K Kaahumanu, 59, 63, 68, 69, 73. Kalanimoku, 59, 73. Kalgan, 259, 375, 377, 379. Kalopathakes, Mr., 202. Kama, 280. Kamehameha, 57, 58, 68. Kamundongo, 338. Kanjundu, Chief, 438. Kapiolani, 73, 74. Kaumualii, 62. Kekela, 231. Kennedy, Rev. and Mrs. P. B., 409. Keopuolani, 59, 62, 73. Kerney, Commodore, 121. Keskar, Dr. P. B., 416. Kimberley, 428. King Glass, 128. King, Rev. Jonas, 82, 87, 88, 91, 101, 201, 202. Kingman, Abner, 307. Kingsbury, Cyrus, 36, 53. Kirttan, 175. Knapp, G. P., 387, 398. Kobe, 265, 268, 270, 271, 355. Kobe College for Girls, 363. Kortcha, 403, 409. Krabschitz Institute for Girls, 465. Kumi-ai, 271, 353, 359, 361, 362, 365, 366, 367. Kurds (Kuzzlebash), 223. Kusaie, 440. Kwangtung, 348. Kwikwi, 338, 339, 340. Kyoto, 265, 266, 273, 353, 354, 356, Kyoto Training School, 273, 352. Kyrias, Mr. Serastie, 410. Kyrias, Miss, 403, 409. Labaca, 470. Lac-qui-parle, 189. Ladd, Daniel, 88. Lahaina, 62, 65, 66. Lamson, CM., 490. Lancaster, Joseph, 36. Laurie, Thomas, 97, 486. Layard, A. H., 197. Laymen's Missionary Movement, 492. INDEX 515 Learned, D. W., 362. Leavitt, H. H., 276. Leitch, the Misses, 422. Leper asylum, 416. Liebenzeller Mission, 453. Life and Light, 485. Liholiho, 58, 62, 63, 68. Lincoln, President, 23 L Lindley, Daniel, 134, 136. Lintsing, 370, 374, 377, 379, 382. Litchfield, Conn., 8. Loba, J. F., 420. Lobdell, Dr. Henry, 210. Lobu Pining, 117. Lodz, 466. Logan, R. W., 248, 441, 447, 448. London Missionary Society, 10, 384, 425. Los von Rom, 466. Lovedale, 427. Lovell, Miss H. M., 222. Lyman, Joseph, 6; Henry, 116, 117. M Macedonia, 214, 389. Mackinaws, 47. MacLachlan, Alexander, 408. Maclay, Dr., 260. Madison, President, 36. Madrid, 460. Madras, 31, 180, 418, 482. Madura, 30, 31, 169, 176, 184, 321, 329, 413, 414, 415, 424. Madura EvangeUcal Society, 416. Mahars, 30. Malta, 85. Mandans, 192. Mangs, 30, 417. Manissa, 223. Marash, 217, 387, 393, 395, 396, 397. Marathi Mission, 174, 182, 184, 321, 413, 415, 417, 419, 420, 422. Marden, Henry, 225. Mardin, 96, 217, 394, 405, 406. Mar EHas, 207. Maronite patriarch, curse of, 98, 99. Maronites, 101, 204. Marquesas Islands, 68, 230, 231. Marsh, D. W., 209. Marsh, Minister G. P., 201. Marshall Islands, 240. Marsovan, 198, 217, 391, 393,396. Martin, W. A. P., 254. Martyn, Henry, 89. Mar Yohannan, 94, 97. Massachusetts, General Association of, 3. Massachusetts Missionary Magazine, 148. Matsuyama, 355. Matteos, patriarch, 104. Maturity, approaching, 305; en- largement of the organization, 305; the civil war, 307; valued allies, 308; withdrawal of cooperating churches, 309; woman's boards, 311; financial gains, 312; finan- cial decline, 314; light in a dark sky, 315; broadening the home base, 315; pohcy abroad, 318; the missionaries, 321. Maui, 70. Maumees, 47. Mauritius, 17. McLeod Hospital, 422. Means, J. O., 194, 336, 346. Meigs, B. C, 22, 23. Melsetter, 436. Meng, Pastor, 369, 377. Mennonite Church, 396. Meriam, W. W., 212. Methodist Foreign Missionary Soci- ety, 150. Methodist Mission, 376. Methodist Woman's Board, 384. Mexico, 350, 468. Micronesia, 227, 231, 235, 321, 440; efforts to withdraw, 228; with- drawal at last (1863), 229; mis- sion of the Marquesas Islands, 230; Micronesian Mission (1852), 516 INDEX 232; first missionaries arrive, 232; getting to work, 233; special hin- drances, 234; progress notwith- standing, 235; the Morning Star, 236; plans for enlargement, 237; breaking ground, 237; the seed taking root, 239; in the Carolines, 239; enduring heavy trials, 240; still advance, 241 ; other Morning Stars, 242; progress in the '70s, 243; coming of age, 244; native leaders, 245; shadows, too, 246; pushing to westward, 246; the Logans on the Mortlocks, 248; readjustments by experience, 248. (See also Islands of the Pacific.) Middletown, Conn., 149. Mildmay Park, 309. Miller, S. T., 337, 338. Mills, S. J., 5, 7, 8, 12, 36, 56, 124, 290. Milwaukee, 315. Min River, 111, 260. Minneapolis, 193, 492. Mission Day spring, 486. Mission Reserves, 283, 430. Mission Studies, 485. Missionary Herald, 148, 149, 316, 317, 485, 488. Missionary Society of London, 10. Miyagawa, T., 277, 367. Miyazaki, 362. Mokil, 243, 244. Monastir, 390, 400, 402, 409. Monroe, President, 37. Monterey, 302, 303. Moore, Prof. E. C, 383. Moravia, 465. Morrill, Miss M. S., 372, 377. Morrison centennial, 382. Morrison, Robert, 108. Morning Star, bi-monthly, 171. Morning Star, missionary ship, 236, 237, 242, 313; II, 242; ///, 243, 441; 7F, 441; 7,441. Morse, Rev. and Mrs. C. F., 212. Moses, 247, 441. Moslekatse (Umzilikazi), 134. Mosul, 97. Mount Sihnda, 329, 343, 344, 435, 436. Mpongwes, 128, 279. Muller, George, 356. Munson, Samuel, 116, 117. N Nanepei, Henry, 450. Naniwa, 276. Nanking, 113. Nantai, 257. Natal, 136, 138. National Bible Society of Scotland, 467. National Council's apportionment plan, 493. National Home Missionary Society, 482. Native EvangeUcal Society, 419. Nearer East, the, 385; attempt at withdrawal, 385; fresh obstacles, 387; growth notwithstanding, 388; advance in European Tur- key, 389; lowering clouds, 391; a carnival of blood and fire, 392; the recovery, 395; a new depart- ment, 397; indemnity at last, 398; revival and encouragement, 398; a time of advance, 399; the Balkans again aflame, 400; cap- ture of Miss Stone, 401; a stormy field, 402; the educational advance, 404; a broadening con- stituency, 405 ; contributory forces, 406; political rights gained, 406; the swift and silent revolu- tion, 407; the mission's part, 408; entering Albania, 408; a new challenge, 409; the counter-revo- lution, 410; signs of better days, 412. (See also Bible Lands, re- entering, and Turkey and the Levant. ) Neesima, J. H., 271, 272, 273, 274, 276, 356, 359, 360. INDEX 517 Nelson, Rev. and Mrs. C. A., 349. Nepean, Sir Evan, 18. Nestorian Mission, 93, 94, 205, 208. Newell, Rev. and Mrs. Samuel, 3, 5, 7, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 22. New Era, 475. Abroad — The de- veloped missions, 475; self-sup- port, 476; native leadership, 476; the missionaries' new field, 477; the spectacle of Christian centers, 478; a wider influence, 481; the union of missions, 482. At home — Shoaling waters, 483; new methods and machinery, 484; a solidifying business, 486; finan- cial strain, 487; Mr. Rockefel- ler's gift, 488; change of person- nel, 490; the missionary awaken- ing, 491; new potencies, 492; the outlook, 493. New Fields — West Africa, 336; spying out the land, 336; loca- tion at Bihe, 336; first mission- aries, 337; getting on the field, 337; facing the task, 338; expul- sion of the missionaries, 339; the mission planted, 340. East Cen- tral Africa — A renewed purpose, 341; exploring tours, 341; tem- porary location at Inhambane, 342; Rhodesia at last, 343; the journey in, 343; beginnings of work, 344. Shansi — Beginning the work, 346; an early disciple, 348. South China — Where home and foreign met, 348; the mission's method, 349. Northern Japan — an artificial division, 350. North- ern Mexico — Another temporary distinction, 350. "New School" Presbyterians, 151. New Testament (Arabic), 203. New West Commission, 471. New York, 148, 482. Nez Perces, 46. Nicomedia, 86, 102, 106, 393. Niigata, 350, 360. Ningpo, 113. Noodsberg, 434. Norris, Dr. Sarah F., 422. Norris, Mrs. Mary, 13. North Arcot Mission, 172. North China, 256, 261. North China College, 370, 371, 372. North China Union Arts College, 384. North China Union Medical Col- lege, 384. North China Union Theological College, 384. North Pacific Institute, 249, 444, 445. Northampton, 140. Northern Mexican Mission, 468, 471. Norton, Ruth, Girls' School, 382. Nott, Samuel, Jr., 5, 7, 12, 19. Oberlin, 322, 381, 492. "Oberlin Band," 345. Obookiah, Henry, 56. Ochileso, 439. Ojibwas, 46, 186. Okayama, 277, 356, 364. Okuma, Count, 361. "Old School" Presbyterians, 151. Omoto, Mr., 355. Oniop, 245, 248. Oodooville, girls' school, 28, 421. Oorfa, 393, 395, 396, 397, 405. Opataia, 244. Opatinia, Princess, 244. Opium, 258, 347. Ordinations, first, 13. Oregon Indians, 49, 51. Osage Mission, 42, 47. Osaka, 265, 271, 276, 352, 363, 364. Osmaniyeh, 411. Otis, Asa, 315, 325. Otsu, 276. Ottley, Sir Richard, 27. Ousley, Rev. and Mrs. Benjamin, 342. 518 INDEX Page, ex-Governor of Verraont, 315. Palestine Mission, 87. Palmer, H. K., 414. Palmer, Miss A. A., 446. Panoplist, 148. Pang-Chuang, 369, 370, 371, 372, 374, 379. Pangwes, 129, 131, 279. Pao-ting-fu, 369, 372, 375, 377, 379. Papal lands, 456; creating a new atmosphere, 456. Spain — Against many adversities, 450; educational development, 458; in war times, 459; growth of religious freedom, 461 ; two schools instead of one, 462; in one genera- tion, 462. Austria — With freer hand, 463; spreading the gospel, 464; some allies and alleviations, 464; some enlargements, 465; on the wings of the wind, 466. Mex- ico — Reorganization and ad- vance, 468; hues of work, 469; educational development, 470; consolidation and concentration, 471; an outreaching mission, 472; the outlook, 474. (See also Christian lands, in nominally.) Papala, 432. Park Street Church, Boston, 9, 56, 236, 311. Parker, Samuel, 49; Dr. Peter, 109, 110, 112, 113, 121. Parral, 470, 471. Parsons, J. W., 225. Parsons, Levi, 80, 81, 82. Parsons, Justin, 198. Parvin, Theophilus, 290. Pastors' series, 485. Pasumalai, 33, 34, 414, 415, 419, 424. Patagonia, 155. Pau, 457. Pawnees, 46. Peabody, A. P., 230. Pease, Dr. E. M., 441, 448. Peet, L. D., 120, 250; W. W., 402. Peking, 253, 256, 348, 370, 371, 372, 375, 376, 379, 383. Pera, 103, 106, 200, 216, 222. Perkins, Rev. and Mrs. Justin, 94, 97, 208. Perry, Commodore, 264. Persian Mission, 208, 209. *" Peshtimaljian, 91. Petit, Sir D. M., 418. Pettee, Rev. and Mrs. J. H., 277, 356. Phelps, A. G., 314. Philadelphia, 147. PhiUpopolis, 390, 403. Pierson, Dr. and Mrs. George, 233. Pietermaritzburg, 426. Pilsen, 465. Pingelap, 243, 244. Pinkerton, M. W., 287, 341. Pitkin, H. T., 7, 377. Pixley, S. C, 426. Plum Blossom School, 276. Pohlman, W. J., 120. Pomeroy, Dr. and Mrs. H. S., 463. Ponape, 233, 234. Pond, G. H. and S. W., 48, 192. Poor, Daniel, 22, 23. Pope, the, as arbitrator, 445. Porter, Noah, 140; Dr. H. D., 261; E. G., 309; Miss M. H., 372; J. S., 465. Powers, P. O., 198. Prague, 297, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468. Presbyterians, 150. Prescott, Miss E. O., 471. Pretoria, 428. Price, Rev. and Mrs. C. W., 347; F. M., 451. Proctor, Miss M. A., 222. Providence, R. I., 314, 318. Prudential Committee, 10, 140, 141. Puaaiki, 75. Puna, 62. INDEX 519 Q s Quarterly Bulletin, 485. Queen Regent of Spain, 461. R Rahuri, 422. Rand, Rev. and Mrs. F. E., 442, 446, 447, 449. Rankin, Miss, 300. Ransom, C. W., 433. Ray, Lord, 414. Raynolds, G. C, 387. Read, U. S. Minister, 254. Red Cross, 362, 393. "Reformed Catholic Mission," 230. Reformed Church in America, 306. Renville, Joseph, 48. Rescue Reform Home, 465. Rhodes, Hon. Cecil, 343. Rhodesia, 343, 435. Rice, Luther, 13, 19. Richards, James, 12, 22 ; William, 66, 67; W. L., 250; E. H., 342. Richards, Miss S. F., 457. Rife, Dr. and Mrs. C. F., 453. Riggs, Elias, 87, 88, 213, 401; S. R., 190, Robert, C. R., 217. Robert College, 221, 390. Robert W. Logan, 449. Rockefeller, J. D., 488. Rogers, D. M., 410. Roman Catholic Church, intoler- ance of, 152. Rood, David, 284. "Rooms," American Board, 486. Ropes, J. S., 307. Ropes, Wilham, 263. Roumelia, eastern, 389. Ruggles, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel, 59, 68. Russell, Miss N. N., 371. Ruth Norton Girls' School, 382. Ruth Tracy Strong Mission, 436. Rutland, Vermont, 318. Sabi Valley, 437. Sachikela, 439. Salem Tabernacle Church, 14. Salonica, 198, 199, 390, 400, 402, 403, 405. Samokov, 386, 400, 403. Samokov Institute, 390. Sanda, 270. Sanders, Rev. and Mrs. W. H., 337, 340. Sandwich Islands, 228, 229; trans- forming the, 56; the incentive, 56; first missionaries, 56; surprising reception, 57; not a religious refor- mation, 57; stupendous task, 58; moral degradation, 59; welcome and location, 59; the press and the school, 60; hard conditions, 61; helpful arrivals, 62; better rulers, 63; spread of the work, 63; mighty against odds, 64; per- secution by foreigners, 65; prog- ress, 66; covering the islands, 66; first awakening (1828), 67; de- cHne in rehgion and morals, 68; renewed effort, 69; new code of laws (1839), 70; advance at Hilo, 71; the great awakening (1838- 39), 71; eminent converts, 73; "Bhnd Bartimeus," 75; poUtical disturbances (1842), 75; spiral progress (1840-50), 76; a self- reliant church, 78. (See also Micronesia and Islands of the Pacific. ) San Sebastian, 456, 458. Santander, 293, 294, 456. Santee Agency, 192, 193. Sapporo, 362. Sassoun, 392. Sati, 25, 165. Sawayama, Paul, 267, 276. Schauffler, William, 90; H. A., 297, 298, 463. Schneider, Benjamin, 88, 93, 197, 223 520 INDEX School of Industrial Arts, 418. Schubert, Pastor, 298. Scudder, Dr. and Mrs. John, 31, 32; Dr. H. M., 172; W. W., 172. Scutari, 199. Seattle, 492. Sendai, 350, 354, 360, 364. Seneca Mission, 186. Sepoy Mutiny, 173. Seville, 292. Seymour, Miss Hattie, 386. Shaftesbury, Earl of, 107, 308. Shanghai, 113, 251, 383, 482. Shangtung, 111, 370, 374. Shansi, 345, 347, 369, 370, 373, 377, 380, 381. Shansi Memorial Association, 381. Shao-wu, 260, 369, 373. Shattuck, Miss Corinna, 394, 395. Shedd, J. H., 207. Sheffield, D. Z., 260, 261, 370. Shikoku, 274. Shinto, 353, 354. Sholapur, 175, 416, 418. Siam Mission, 116. Sibley, Dr. and Mrs. C. T., 454. Sidon, 203. Sinas, Pastor, 403. Singapore, 111. Sioux, 19, 46, 48. Sirur, 329, 414. Sissitons, 190. Sivas, 392, 394, 396. Slavery, 186. Slavs, 463. Smallpox, 115, 228, 234. Smith, A. H. 261, 370; Azariah, 197; Eli, 85, 88, 89, 91, 93, 99; James, 418; Judson, 345, 346, 373. Smyrna, 87, 88, 222, 389, 393, 405. Snow, Rev. and Mrs. B. G., 232. Society of Friends, 397. "Society of Reformed Catholics," 302. Sofia, 390, 403, 408. Sonora, 473. South America, 155. South China, 373, 348, 382. Southern Asia, 413; a jubilee indeed, 413; era of educational growth, 414; religious development of the fields, 415; famine and plague again, 416; enlarging industrial work, 418; Christian cujture, 418; the deputation of 1902, 420. (See also India and Ceylon and British India and Ceylon.) Southern and Central Africa, 426; a jubilee survey, 426; a slow transformation, 427; fresh plans and efforts, 427; other signs of growth, 428 ; dangers of independ- ence, 429; deputation's findings, 431; Zulu rebellion, 433; progress in East Central Africa, 435; in- dustrial work, 435; the outlook, 436; in West Africa, 437; Ufe at the stations, 437; difficulties with the Portuguese, 438. (See also Africa, attempting, New Fields and Dark Continent, in the.) Southern Board of Foreign Mis- sions, 151. Southern Methodists, 468. Sophocles, Professor, 87. Spain, 456; Queen Regent of, 461. Spanish Evangehcal Union, 458. Spanish Jew^s, 90. Spalding, Rev. and Mrs. H. H., 49, 52. Spaulding, Levi, 23, 180. Spirit Lake, 189. Spring, Samuel, 3, 5, 6. St. Paul, Minn., 190. St. Paul's Institute, 403. St. Petersburg, 467. Stamboul, 200. Standard Oil Company, 488. Standing Rock Agency, 194. Stanley, C. C, 261; H. M., 288. Stephan, Patriarch, 102. Stephens, J. L., 300, 302. Stevens, Edwin, 111. Stewart, James, 427. INDEX 521 Stiles, Ezra, 124. Stimson, Rev. and Mrs. M. L., 345, 348. Stockbridge Indians, 47. Stoddard, D. T., 97; Charles, 307, 332. Stone, Miss E. M., 401, 402. Storrs, R. S., 331, 490. Stover, W. M., 439. Strong, E. E., 431. Strong, Miss C. M., 303. Strong, Ruth Tracy, Mission, 436. Strong, Rev. and Mrs. Sydney, 431. Strumnitza, 402. Stuart, Prof. Moses, 3. Student Volunteer Movement, 492. Sturges, Rev. and Mrs. A. A., 232, 441. Swett, S. W., 325. Syrian Protestant College, 205. Tabernacle Church, Salem, 14. Tabriz, 94. Tabu, 55, 58. Tai-ku, 346, 347, 377, 381. T'ai Fing rebellion, 250. Tai-yuan-fu, 346. Talcott, Miss Eliza, 270. Tama, Deacon, 206. Tamil Scriptures, 32. Tanaka, Mr., 273. Tank Home, 322. Tappan, John, 307. Tarragona, 457. Tarsus, 410, 411. Taylor, Dr. Wallace, 268; J. D., 433. TeUippallai, 422. Temple, Daniel, 85, 88. Ten Years on the Euphrates, 320. Thaddeus, 56. The Broad and Narrow Way, 129. The Christian, 294. The Land and the Book, 203. The Middle Kingdom, 121. The Weekly Messenger, 276. Thompson, A. C, 166, 194, 307, 332; J. P., 299; Dr. W. L., 343. Thomson, W. M., 99; Rev. and Mrs. Robert, 400. Thurston, Asa, 57. Tibet, 156. Tientsin, 256, 259, 371, 375, 377, 379, 380. TilUpalli School, 422. Tirana, 409. Tissira, Gabriel, 29. Tocat, 200. Tokyo, 265, 278, 352, 363, 364. Torrey, Elbridge, 332. Treadwell, Governor John, 6. Treat, Secretary S. B., 37, 307. Trebizond, 93, 104, 392, 395. Trowbridge, T. C, 220. True News, 415, 422. Truk, 246, 247, 441. TsUka, Mr. and Mrs., 401, 402, 409, 410. Tung-Chou, 260, 370, 371, 372, 373, 375, 379, 384. Turkey and the Levant, 196; changed situation, 196; laborers for the harvest, 198; enlarging field, 200; Jonas King in Greece, 201; in stormy Syria, 202; gain, 203; Syria's civil war (1860), 204; recovery, 204; Nestorian Mis- sion, 205; native preachers, 206; wider impression, 207; growing church life, 207; Assyrian Mis- 1 sion, 209; pioneers, 210; enter- ing European Turkey, 211; slow work, 212 ; mission organized (1871), 213; new era for Arme- nians (1860), 215; pivotal period, 216; growing stations, 217; native agency, 218; advance in organ- ization and establishment, 220; work for women, 221; sur- mounting obstacles, 223; era of higher education, 224; Russo- Turkish war, 225; an eventful period, 226. (See also Bible lands, 522 INDEX reentering, and Nearer East, the.) Turkish Missions Aid Society, 308 Turner, Bishop, 152. Tuscarora, 186. . Twentieth Century Fund, 487. Tyler, Josiah, 138, 285, 289. U Uduvil Girls' School, 421. Umbiyana, 285. Umlazi, 135. Umpandi, 135, 136. Umvote, 136. Umzila, 341. Umzihkazi (Moselekatse), 134, Umzumbe, 286, 427. Union Theological College, 424. Union Woman's College, 384. Unitarianism, 8. United Church of South India, 424. United Free Church of Scotland, 425. University of Calcutta, 414. University of Madras, 424. Urumia, 94, 97. Utica, 168. Vadala, 414. Valley of the Mississippi Society, 150. Van, 223, 392, 394, 395, 400, 406. Van Allen, Dr. Frank, 422. Van Dyck, C. V. A., 99. Van Lennep, H. J., 88. Venables, H. I., 134. Verein Betanie, 463. Vienna, 466, 467. Vrooman, Daniel, 257. W Wagner, H. T., 473. Wai, 423. Waldensians, 292. Walker, WilUam, 279; Mrs. Eliza, 322. Walkup, Capt. A. C, 440, 444, 448, 453, 454. Walley, Deacon S. H., 6. Walter, F. A., 339. Ward, L. S., 307. Warren, Edward, 12, 22. Washburn, G. T., 415. Washington Islands, 68. Washington, State of, 49. Watkins, D. F., 300, 301, 468. Webster, Daniel, 201. Week of Prayer, 150. Wesley ans, 425. West Africa, 336, 437. West, Dr. H. L., 223. West, Miss M. A., 222. Western Asia Mission, 87. Western Mexican Mission, 468, 471. Western Turkey Mission, 217, 218. W^heeler, C. H., 219, 320, 394. Wheeler, Miss E C, 397. White, Judge, 141. Whitman, Dr. Marcus, 49, 50, 51. Whitney, Dr. H. T., 370. Whitney, Rev. and Mrs. J. F., 243. Whittemore, William F., 420. Whittlesey, Gen., 193. Widows' Aid Society, 416. Wilberforce, William, 18. Wilcox, W. C, 342. Wilder, H. A., 138; G. A., 342, 343, 345. Williams, Bishop, 265; S. W., 109, 112, 119, 121, 253, 254, 255, 368; T. S., 153; W. F., 209, 210. Williamson, 48, 188, 192, 194. Williamstown, Mass., 7. Wilson, J. L., 124, 126, 129, 134. Winnebagoes, 191. Winslow, Miron, 23, 180; F. O., 431. Winsor, Richard, 414. Wishard, L. D., 484. Woman's Bible Training School, 366. INDEX 523 Woman's Board of Missions, 222, 311, 458. Wood, G. W., 307. Woodhull, Dr. Kate C, 370. Worcester, Samuel, 3, 4, 5, 6, 161 ; S. A., 44, 45, 187. Worcester, Mass., 11. Wortabet, Gregory, 84. Wright, A. C., 471, 472. Wyckoff, Miss H. G., 372. Wyncoop, S. K., 125. Young Men's Society for Diffusing Missionary Knowledge, 155. Young People and Education, de- partment for, 487. Young People's Missionary Move- ment, 492. Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, 415, 461, 492. Young Turk party, 407. Young Women's Christian Associa- tion, 465. YoutWs Dayspring, 149. Yu Hsien, 374, 377. Yamamoto, 273, 276. Yedo, 111, 264. Yellow Medicine, 188. Yesuba, 173. Yesuba Powar, 173. Yokohama, 266. Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, 464, 465. Young Men's Home, 416. Zaragoza, 293, 294, 295, 457. Zeitoon, 225, 393. Zippora, 441. Zornitza, 390, 400, 408. Zulu Mission, 132, 133, 134, 135, 281, 288, 429, 434. ERRATA Page 176, for " Merrick" read " Herrick " Page 403, for '' Agricultural and Theological" read "Agricultural and Industrial." Date Due Vs^'^mm^. ' '^ V54