Various - The American Missionary. Volume 42, No. 12, December, 1888

American Missionary Association.

PRESIDENT, REV. WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D., LL.D., N.Y.

Vice-Presidents.

Rev. A.J.F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y.

Rev. F.A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill.

Rev. ALEX. McKENZIE, D.D., Mass.

Rev. D.O. MEARS, D.D., Mass.

REV. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., MO.

Corresponding Secretaries.

Rev. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Rev. A.F. BEARD, D.D., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Recording Secretary. REV. M.E. STRIEBY, D.D.

Treasurer.

H.W. HUBBARD, Esq., 56 Reade Street, N.Y.

Auditors.

PETER McCARTEE.

CHAS. P. PEIRCE.

Executive Committee.

JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman.

ADDISON P. FOSTER, Secretary.

For Three Years.

J.E. RANKIN,

WM. H. WARD,

J.W. COOPER,

JOHN H. WASHBURN,

EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.

For Two Years.

LYMAN ABBOTT,

CHARLES A. HULL,

J.R. DANFORTH,

CLINTON B. FISK,

ADDISON P. FOSTER.

For One Year.

S.B. HALLIDAY,

SAMUEL HOLMES,

SAMUEL S. MARPLES,

CHARLES L. MEAD,

ELBERT B. MONROE.

District Secretaries.

Rev. C.J. RYDER, 21 Cong'l House, Boston.

Rev. J.E. ROY, D.D., 151 Washington Street, Chicago.

Financial Secretary for Indian Missions.

Rev. CHAS. W. SHELTON.

Secretary of Woman's Bureau.

Miss D.E. EMERSON, 56 Reade St., N.Y.

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; letters for "THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY," to the Editor, at the New York Office.

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post-office orders, may be sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass, or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—The date on the "address label," indicates the time to which the subscription is paid. Changes are made in date on label to the 10th of each month. If payment of subscription be made afterward, the change on the label will appear a month later. Please send early notice of change in post-office address, giving the former address and the new address, in order that our periodicals and occasional papers may be correctly mailed.

"I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of – dollars, in trust, to pay the same in – days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

The Annual Meeting at Providence, R.I., will long be remembered in the annals of this Association. Its general characteristics were earnestness and enthusiasm. The interest did not flag from the beginning to the end. We were glad to welcome our newly-elected President, Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., who, by his dignity and facility as a presiding officer, as well as by his able addresses, added largely to the interest of the meeting. The sermon of Dr. Little was an uplift at the outset; the Memorial Service for Dr. Powell was a loving tribute to his memory; the papers read were of a high order, and dealt in a practical way with living themes bearing on the work of the Association; the reports on the several departments of that work were discriminating, and showed a mastery of the subjects reviewed; and the addresses of Drs. Mears, Behrends and Taylor, on the last evening were, by their fervor, their broad range of thought and spiritual power, a fitting close for the whole series of meetings.

But the marked and peculiar feature of the occasion was the announcement of the munificent gift of Mr. Daniel Hand, of more than a million of dollars, to aid the Association in its efforts for the colored people of the South. This event, so inspiring in its immediate effect, and so far-reaching and permanent in its beneficial results, deserves full and special mention.

The gift of more than a million of dollars by Mr. Hand for the education of the colored people of the South, was a noble deed—alike patriotic, philanthropic and Christian. The gift was wisely made. It was after mature deliberation; it was during his lifetime, and thus avoids the possibility of future litigation; it is bestowed upon a race with whose wants Mr. Hand had become thoroughly familiar; it was given to a Society that from the first, amid obloquy and danger, has been true to the colored man; and it is made a permanent fund, the income only to be used, thus securing its perpetual usefulness.

The conditions of the grant are simple, easily applicable, practical and not liable to render the fund inoperative by any change of circumstances. It aims simply to give to the colored people a training that will fit them for every day life, or to become teachers of their race. Hence it will be confined to primary, industrial and normal education. We have no doubt that Mr. Hand values the missionary future of the African in his native land; that he realizes the importance of his religious training in this country, and that he appreciates the need of the higher education of a portion of the race; but his gift, large as it is, cannot cover everything, and he has, therefore, wisely chosen the definite sphere in which his money shall accomplish its work. Opportunity is thus given others equally liberal to provide for other parts of the great work to be done for the negro race.

Mr. Hand may not live long enough to see for many years the practical working of his far-reaching gift, but generation after generation of the Negroes of the South will rise up to call him blessed.

[Abridged from the Providence Journal .]

The Address of Secretary Strieby.

It is my privilege, and I esteem it a great honor, to be called upon to announce one of the most surprising and gratifying facts, financially considered at least, that has ever occurred in the history of this Association. The American Missionary Association has this week received the largest gift ever made in this country by a living donor to a benevolent society. Daniel Hand, an aged resident of Guilford, Conn., formerly a merchant in the South, has given to the Association $1,000,894.25, in interest-bearing securities, to be held in trust and known as "THE DANIEL HAND EDUCATIONAL FUND FOR COLORED PEOPLE," the income only to be used for the education of colored people in the Southern States. Mr. Hand, having made his money in the South, and having seen the ignorance and consequent disadvantages of the colored people there, felt that he could not use it better than in providing for their education, and has chosen to entrust to the American Missionary Association, whose work is so largely devoted to the elevation of that people, the care of this magnificent gift, and the disbursement of its income in accordance with the provisions of the trust.

This announcement was received with great enthusiasm, which was prolonged for several minutes, and the most intense excitement prevailed. An address was then given by John H. Washburn, Esq., Chairman of the Executive Committee, after which Rev. Dr. Mears made an address, which was followed by the singing of the Doxology with great fervor and emphasis.