"Natal is a chief thoroughfare to the gold fields and is the nearest port of the rapidly developing interior. This ensures growth and enforces the need of the growth of our institutions. Hundreds of Zulus naturally join the money pilgrims. As a result there are Zulu colonies in Kimberly, Johannesburg, and other towns, some of them crying for teachers and preachers. Hence there are new and pressing demands laid upon this mission. The extension of the railroads in the Transvaal and Free State will multiply these demands upon us. These colonies will, as a rule, be able to pay for an article ready made, but we must make the article, we must equip preachers and teachers. These colonies, if seized for Christ by our messengers, will be willing and able to push the work of Christ on the cantilever plan' far into the interior of the continent. There are three great questions which spring into view with every consideration of our position: the Law question, the Land question, and the Labor question. "With a few exceptions all the 400,000 natives of this colony are governed by what is called the Native Codea poor compromise arising at a time when the English did not feel strong enough to give and enforce English law. This Native Code is an English adaptation of barbarian law. It is an abominable stronghold where heathenism hides and defies progress. It is a code tolerable only in an initial period. It is a code which should be abolished, or at least modified as rapidly as possible. It is with profound regret, then, that we notice such changes as have come with recent modifications. In our opinion, the New Code in no way discourages the selling of women for wives, but encourages polygamy. Such improvements as are incorporated in the New Code must not blind us to the radical wrong of the government in the persistence with which it refuses to look at native law from a Christian standpoint. We are face to face with a difficult problem. Our Christian natives are shadowed with heathenish laws. The way out is so hedged up that few care to make the struggle." THE LAND AND LABOR QUESTIONS. "At present the natives seem secure in their reservations, but naturally there is a constant pressure to break up these reservations. A few mistakes in carrying out the original terms of the grant may open the way for government to seize a reservation and throw it open to white settlers. A reservation system could not probably secure permanently the best interests of the people themselves. What shall be done? Has the time come to urge some 'land in severalty' idea? Is it best for the trustees to sell or lease these reservation lands to natives? How could the lands and the mission stations be protected in such case from the debasing system of polygamy? These are questions confronting us at every meeting. "The Zulus have never loved hard work. Their needs are few and easily satisfied. Hence they have not filled the labor market. What is the result? Thousands of coolies have been imported from Asia to do the work on the plantations, to crowd the railroad openings, to do the market-gardening for the cities. God forbid that we should have the American spirit of Asiatic exclusion! But God has sent us to disciple a nation. Were the reservation open, the Asiatics Iwould drive the Zulus to the wall unless the Zulus become an industrious people. Our great hope is not that we may save the Zulus only but through them may reach their kindred in the great interior. A spirit of industry is essential to this end. The results achieved among the freedmen and American Indians and in the Love dale system of South Africa spur our wish to see more done here in this direction. The future of a race is in the balance. What can be done?" ESIDUMBINI. This station is occupied by Miss Hane and Miss McCornack, who, with the aid c the native preacher, are carrying forward the work most successfully. Miss McCornack, under date of August 6, writes: "We appreciate our new preacher and are very thankful he is here. He is above the average in ability, refinement, and consecration. He is doing good work in the pulpit, in the kraals, and in the Bible classes. He takes one of the inquirers' classes, and we feel that he is having a good influence on the young people in his class. They are in great need of such instruction as he is able to give, as he knows them and their language so well. "We have three inquirers' classes each week. Miss Hance's meets early in the morning; sometimes, in summer, between six and seven. She teaches the older people who do not know how to read. The preacher takes the young men and women, and I have all the children in the school who are inquirers. Tuesday is set apart for inquirers, and those who live at some distance away come when they can and are taught separately. I began my class about two years ago and have been much interested in it ever since. work in the towns have not yet returned to school, but I hope they will in a few weeks. Of the twenty-seven who have united with the church during the year, six were from this class. "Two out-station schools have been started, one ten and the other four miles from here. The former has an attendance of between twenty and thirty, the latter, between thirty and forty. These schools promise good results. We could start more schools, as there are several places where the people are asking for schools, but we lack the means and the teachers. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL. Miscellany. James Gilmour of Mongolia: his Diaries, Letters, and Reports. Edited and arranged by Richard Lovett, M.A. New York and Chicago: F. H. Revell E Co. Pp. 336. Price, $1.75. Here is another missionary biography which will do to stand in one's library by the side of the memorials of Neesima, Mackay, Paton, Mackenzie, and others with which the world has recently been enriched. James Gilmour was a remarkable character. With striking intellectual abilities, his spiritual life was deep and fervid. It is not necessary that one should approve of all of his judgments or adopt his theories, in order to recognize his admirable qualities and his real devotion. He gave himself so unreservedly to the Lord and to the redemption of the Mongols that his name will be inseparably connected with missionary work in Mongolia. This nemorial presents in a delightful way the character of the man, and incidentally affords the best information in regard to the country and the people for whom Mr. Gilmour gave his life. The Model Sunday-school: A Handbook of Princi ples and Practices. By George M. Boynton, Secretary of the Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society. Boston and Chicago: Congregational Sunday-school and Publishing Society. Pp. 175. Every Sunday-school superintendent and teacher will find this handbook packed full of most admirable suggestions on a great variety of topics relating to Sundayschool work. Those Sunday-schools whose officers and teachers study this little volume cannot fail to be the better for it. The Story of the Life of Mackay of Uganda. Told for Boys, by his Sister. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. The story of this noble life and of the great deeds that crowned it cannot be too often told, whether for boys or men. Mackay was one of the Christian heroes whose adventures are the glory of our time a modern knight-errant whose quest was undertaken not for fanciful, sentimental, or ambitious ends, but in simple obedience to the call of the Great Commander. How cheerfully, bravely, and patiently he served as pioneer for the advancing hosts of his King, in savage Africa, this book abundantly sets forth. An American Missionary in Japan. By Rev. M. L. Gordon, M.D., D.D. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 276. Price, $1.25. This is the latest, as it is the best, story of missionary life and work as related to Japan; not that it is a history of missions in that empire, but it presents, in short, terse chapters, a view of the Japanese, their language and customs, their religious ideas and their reception of Christianity, including a great variety of incidents illustrating the work of missionaries among them. Dr. Gordon, as our readers well know, has been for twenty years a highly approved missionary of the American Board in Japan, connected most of the time with the Doshisha University at Kyoto. He knows whereof he affirms, and he has given us a delightful book, most readable and instructive. Whoever is going to Japan as missionary might leave behind a large part of his luggage rather than fail to take with him this little volume. And whoever would know what American Christians have done, and have yet to do, in the Empire of the Rising Sun will find here the clearest and most accurate information. Our Birthdays. Towards Sunset: Seventy-one to One Hundred. By Rev. A. C. Thompson, D.D. New York and Boston: T. Y. Crowell & Co. Particloth, gilt top. Pp. 271. Price, $1.00. This is a unique volume, and as charming as it is unique. For strength and delicacy of touch it is most remarkable as coming from the pen of an octogenarian. Notwithstanding his age, we had never thought of applying the term venerable to the author, whose youth seems perennial, and whose versatility is borne witness to by his many publications on missions and on a great variety of other topics. His bow certainly abides in strength. Many missionaries in foreign lands will be glad to see this notice of a new volume, devotional in character, from the author of "The Better Land" and "Moravian Missions." SPECIAL TOPIC FOR PRAYER. Notes for the Month. For the blessing of God upon the new missionary year of the American Board: that the Divine Spirit may rest in large measure upon the laborers at the front, and that the means for their support may be amply supplied. ARRIVALS AT STATIONS, August 2. At Constantinople, Mrs. Catherine Parsons. August 19. At Benguella, Rev. Frank W. Read and wife. August 25. At Constantinople, Mrs. Henry S. Barnum. August 30. At Adabazar, Turkey, Miss Laura Farnham, September 7. At Kobe, Japan, Miss M. J. Barrows and Miss Cora A. Stone. September 21. At Smyrna, Miss Emily McCallum. September 27. At San Sebastian, Spain, Miss Anna F. Webb, Miss Alice H. Bushee, and Departures. September 24. From Boston, Rev. Charles Harding and wife, returning to the Marathi Mission, and Rev. Henry G. Bissell and wife, to join the same mission. Mr. Bissell is a son of the late Lemuel Bissell, D.D., of the Marathi Mission. September 27. From San Francisco, Rev. M. L. Gordon, D.D., and Miss Susan A. Searle returning to the Japan Mission; also, Edward L. Bliss, M.D., to join the Foochow Mission. October 15. From Vancouver, Rev. E. E. Aiken and wife, for the North China Mission. ARRIVALS IN THE UNITED STATES. September 12. At San Francisco, Rev. C. M. Cady and wife, of the Japan Mission. MARRIAGE. October 6. In New York city, Rev. Edwin E. Aiken, of the North China Mission, to Miss I. 2. 3 4. For the Monthly Concert. [Topics based on information given in this number of the Herald.] Reports of the Annual Meeting of the Board. (Pages 429, 430 and 485-501.) The work at the three West African stations. (Pages 468–470.) (Pages 473-475.) The outlook in the Zulu Mission. 6. 7. MASSACHUSETTS. Andover, West Cong. ch. Beverly, Dane-st. Cong, ch., of which 12, m. c. Billerica, Cong. ch. and so., add'l, Boston, Eliot ch. (Roxbury), m. c., 9.44; Winthrop ch. (Charlestown), 74.52; A friend, 20; A friend, 15; A. T., 5; A friend, 1; A friend, 1, Braintree, Storrs Ladies' Foreign Miss'y Soc., with other dona., to const. Miss MARY SUGDEN, H. M. Chesterfield, Cong, ch. and so. Dedham, Sadie McClennan, for Turkish Brigade, 25c.; E. P. Burgess, for Chinese Brigade, 25c. East Northfield, F. J. Ward, Fitchburg, Calvinist Cong. ch., 102; Rev. and Mrs. John Wood, 10, Gardner, Mrs. J. C. Bryant, Hanson, Cong, ch. and so. Ipswich, 1st Cong. ch. Lawrence, Trinity Cong, ch. Lincoln, Cong. ch, and so. Lowell, Eliot Cong. ch. Millbury, 2d Cong. ch., to const. 108 75 26 75 NEW YORK. JACOB R. LINCOLN, H. M. 147 53 Millis, Cong. ch. and so. 13 90 New Salem, Cong. ch, and so. 9 52 Brookton, Rev. J. Breckenridge, 10 00 Newton, Eliot ch., of which 210 for Tottori, Columbus, Cong. ch. 335 00 Cortland, Cong. ch. 50 00 Lisbon, ist Cong. ch. 12 09 40 00 Lysander, Cong. ch. 5 5 00 Newark, Cong. ch. 53 Newton Centre, S. F. Wilkins to sup- North Carver, Cong. ch. and so. 15 00 II 00 10 00 Rutland, George E. Davis, 2 00 Shrewsbury, Cong. ch. and so. 20 00 Southampton, Cong. ch. and so. 22 OI South Framingham, Grace Cong. ch., to sup. miss'y in Japan, 566 22 South Walpole, Missionary, 2. 00 South Weymouth, Old South ch. and New York, Broadway Tabernacle, Friends, 15; J. H. Lane, 200; C. C.," 5: "A. J. T.," 5, Orient, Cong. ch. Oxford, Cong. ch. Panama, D. D. Swezey, West Bloomfield, Cong. ch. Legacies. Bridgewater, Sarah Cordelia Oakes, by David S. Wood, Adm'r, 1,075 27 35 00447 91 300 00 7479 30 00-2,336 89 231 19 46 87-278 06 West Boylston, Ist Cong. ch. Woods Holl, 1st Cong. ch. Legacies. Brookline, Elizabeth Georgetown, L. P. Palmer, by Henry Hilliard, Ex'r, add'l, 60 21 13.00 5 00 7 50 7 50 100 00 883 103 95 8 42 |