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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

VOL. XLIV. JANUARY, 1890. NO. 1.

AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

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NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS.

The New Year opens upon this Association auspiciously. The setting sun
of our old year went down in a bright sky. Revivals of religion and an
increased membership was the joyful record of our churches; by the
generous aid of the Daniel Hand Fund, our schools showed a greatly
enlarged attendance, and the faithful work of the teachers brought forth
most satisfactory results; the threatened debt that darkened several
months of the year was happily averted by good showing on the right side
of the ledger.

It is from this bright setting sun of the last year that we turn with
faith and hope to the opening of the new year. We believe, the work is
the Lord's and that he will provide. But our faith alone will not save
us. It is our duty to inform and arouse our constituents as to the needs
and urgency of our work. We will specify in a few particulars:

1. As to funds. Our last year's favorable showing was due in large part
to legacies. These are variable, and we must rely on the gifts of
_living donors_. Unless, therefore, the churches and individuals make
larger contributions than last year, we have no assurance of an escape
from debt, even if the work be maintained merely as at present. We wish
most earnestly to press this fact upon the friends of the Association.

2. But this is not all. Growth is imperative. The people at the North
are alarmed by the disturbed condition of the South, and are awakening
afresh, as they were at the close of the war, to a sense of
responsibility to the colored people. The aroused feeling at that time
took a practical turn, and money, men and women were sent without stint
to enlighten and elevate. Shall it be so now, or will mere sympathy or
useless regret suffice? No! Something, the _right thing_, can be done.
Fair-minded men, both North and South, realize that all schemes
involving fraud, violence, disfranchisement or deportation, are
impracticable, but all are agreed as to the value of Christian
enlightenment, enabling the Negro to earn property and to become an
intelligent and virtuous citizen. This is the line on which the
Association has perseveringly toiled since it opened its first school at
Fortress Monroe in 1861, and it is not too much to say that nothing more
effective has been done in all these years.