REV. H. H. JESSUP’S LETTER.
PHOTOGRAPH OP MISSIONARY LIFE.
Abeih, Mount Lebanon, Stria, 1
July 6th, 1865. J
Rev. Jno. W. Mears —Dear Brother:
Six months have passed since my re
turn to Syria, and I have not written
you one word. I promised to write you,
and have not kept my promise, and my
object in writing now is to tell you the
reason. The amount of labor thrown
upon a foreign missionary is something
which few persons at home can under
stand Not only is greater effort neces
sary in a warm climate to do the same
thing which you would do easily at
home, but one is obliged to do a little
of every thing, and bear burdens which
few ministers of' the Gospel at home
would consent to have thrown upon
them. I promised myself, on returning
to my missionary field, that I would
write often to the churches at home, and
do all.in my power to awaken and main
tain an interest in this part of the Lord’s
vineyard. But there is a limit to human
Strength and endurance, and, in order to
give your readers some idea of the daily
life of a missionary in Beirut, and the
reason why some missionaries cannot
write home as often as they co®ld wish,
I will write the journal of a single
week’s experience during the past month.
Beirut, June 26, 1865. Yesterday
preached twice in Arabic to a large con
gregation. Dr. Yan Dyck left for
America on the 3d inst., and Dr. Thom
son is absent in the interior, engaged in
certain biblical explorations, preparatory
to the publication of his new volume in
continuation of the “ Land and the
Book.” The weather is intensely hot,
and, in order to be prepared for the
labors of the coming Sabbath, I will
begin in season. The preparation of
two Arabic sermons every week for the
congregation in Beirut is no light work.
Among the hearers are some of the most
intelligent men and women in the Pro
testant community, the teachers and
pupils of three different high schools,
and merchants and business men of
various grades, besides a larger or
smaller number of strangers from dif
ferent parts of Syria, who are always
present at the public services of the
sanctuary. Two sermons for such a
congregation demand all one’s energies,
and time must be taken for study and
reflection through the week. You re
solve to begin early in the week, so as
not to be hurried in this hot weather.
You begin to study—a knock at the
door. Several men from a distant vil
lage wish to see you, and beg for an
Interview at once, as they are about to
leave. You go down stairs, invite them
in. They are strangers; say they have
heard of the Protestant religion, and
one of them has read some in a Testa
ment—the rest cannot read They wish
instruction. Wish to write down their
names as Protestants. You explain to
them the nature of Protestant Chris
tianity ; find them grossly ignorant; no
teacher in their village. They heard
the preaching yesterday. Ask what to
do. You advise them to take Testa
ment with them when they go home,
read every thing, and when they come
to Beirut, or another missionary station,
call on the missionaries and attend the
public services. You try to lead their
thoughts to Christ, and remove their
worldly and mercenary spirit.
After talking with them some time, they
take their departure, and you are return
ing to your study, when in comes the mis-,
sion agent with a bundle of mail matter.
You are postmaster, and the mails must
be opened. The Austrian steamer is in
with letters from America, Constanti
nople, and Egypt; the Turkish mails
from Jerusalem, Tyre, Sidon, and from
Damascus, Aleppo, and Mardin have, ar
rived, and the packages must be opened,
letters weighed, accounts charged to
different individuals, new packages made
up, and messengers sent to various
parties in Beirut, and on the mountains.
The steamer leaves this evening. Im
portant letters must be read and an
swered. This one wishes a bill on
London from the Imperial Ottoman
Bank -to be sent to Malta by the first
mail, the second of exchange to follow it
by a subsequent mail. Another makes
inquiries with regard to the steamers
plying between Liverpool and the Syrian
coast; the time of sailing and the fares,
and whether reductions will be made for
families. Another sends a box to be
forwarded to the United States. You
dispatch all the various items of busi
ness, give the orders to the native agent,
seal the letters for the mail, and it is one
o’clock.
In the whirl of business, the two
sermons have disappeared from view,
and now a quiet hour must be taken for
rest and dinner.—At two o’clock the
heat is so great that the mental ma
chinery declines to run rapidly. Ser
mon writing is out of the question.
You remember that the Missionary
monthly journal in Arabic is not finished,
and as next Monday is the monthly
meeting of the native Missionary So
ciety, and the type must he set, and the
proofs read, and the printing done, no
time is to be lost. You turn to your
files of missionary magazines and reli
gious newspapers, and mark articles for
translation. In a few quiet hours you
can finish it, and select a wood cut, (the
American Board having' sent us the
blocks of the pictorial illustrations of
the “Youth’s Day spring,”) and write a
description of it for the Syrian children.
This, at least, you will finish before
night, and hand it over to the foreman
of the press.—Knock at the door. The
chaplain of one of the British ships-of
war in the harbor calls to settle the
account of the funeral expenses of a
sailor who has just been buried in the
American cemetery. He pays for the
lot, takes a receipt, inquires about our
mission work, and perhaps would like to
look through our printing establishment,
and get some information about mission
schools, and the progress of the Gospel
in Syria. You are only too happy to
do a favor for a Christian friend, and
find pleasure and profit in his society.
As you return to your study, several
men are waiting for you. The master
mason who has taken the job of erecting,
a building for the Native Girls Boarding
School, comes to ask advice about the
work. You go with him to the spot,
for you have the charge of this also.
You take measurements, make estimates,
look over his accounts, see to it that he
is using the right materials, and not
slighting his work, and then he returns
with you to receive funds for purchasing
lumber and other materials while prices
are low. The clock strikes six. You
have taken no exercise to-day, and must
mount your horse and ride a half hour,
and call on your return on a family be
longing to the Protestant congregation.
They are in trouble; one of the sons is
behaving badly. He will hot work, and
is spending money, and frequenting
coffee-houses, and getting into bad com
pany. What shall we' do ? and will you
not speak to him and advise him, and
try to save him? You return home to
tea. A stranger is waiting to see you.
You ask him to wait, and take your tea
in quiet. That missionary monthly is
not finished. Those two sermons must
be attended to to-morrow.- —The stranger
proves to be a mountaineer from Beit
Miri. He wishes me to buy his house
and lot in the mountain. I tell him I
never buy property ; that I do not own
a square foot of land, and never intend
to. He looks incredulous, and says it is
well Watered, just below the fountain,
and very cheap. I still refuse to enter
into the subject, but he holds oh. It
seems that some one had sent him to, me
as a Frank that was anxious to buy pro
perty in the. mountains, and he thought
my protests and denials were only the
Oriental way of driving a close bargain.
I asked him if his children attended
school. He denied that he had any
children, fearing lest I would not bu y
there were heirs to contest the title to
the land. After nearly an hour’s talk
he finally goes away, having heard more
Gospel truth, and sold less land than he
expected, and yet, not unlikely, believing
that he will soon have an offer from the
Beirut Franjee for his land. This even
ing, which I had set apart for pastoral
visiting, is now so far gone, and I am so
wearied out, that I reluctantly decide to
remain at home. It is nearly nine o’clock
—when one of the native Protestants
calls to tell me of a Mohammedan
Sheikh of the city who has-become a
Christian and is in prison. The evi
dence is strong, but not sufficient to en
able us to carry the case up to the Con
suls, and we agree to investigate the sub
ject thoroughly, and do all in our power
to obtain his release, if it be found true.
June 27, Tuesday. The missionary
journal is finished this morning, and sent
to the printer. A telegram is received
from Sidon,making inquiries about steam
ers. A missionary brother, for seven
teen years laboring in Syria, without
seeing his native land, has now broken
down in health, and is obliged to return
to the United States with his family.
He (Rev. Mr. Ford,, of Sidon) had in
tended to take ah English steamer via
Alexandria to Liverpool, but on account
of the ravages of the cholera in Alexan
dria, it is not considered safe, and he is
to come on to Beirut and sail via Smyrna
to Liverpool. You go down town, call
at the steamer offices, write an Arabic
telegram to Sidon, advising them to come
on at once so as to take the French or
Russian steamer to Smyrna.
To-day there is an opportunity to send to
Alexandria, the port of Aleppo, and several
boxes of books are to go. Bills of lading
are to be prepared, lists of the books
placed in each box, a letter to be written
to the American Consul for an order on
the Custom House to have the books
passed free of duty, (in accordance with
a firman of. the Sultan which granted
this privilege to all religious sects,) and
then the whole to be sent down by
porter to the wharf. An account is
kept of all the books, and you send it to
Aleppo for payment. With these boxes
you send several boxes of Bibles and re
ligious books to Tripoli for. that city and
Tunis. After two hours a man comes
with a note, saying that the government
censor has seized a number of the books,
and will not allow them to pass- They
are copies of a controversial work written
by Dr. Meshaka, of Damascus, in de
fence of Evangelical Christianity, and in
reply to the Papists. How, as this book
has been in circulation for more than
ten years without objection, and thou
sands of copies have passed through this
same Custom House, you think it very
strange, and call on the Consul to ask
his interference. It seems that the pre
sent censor of the press is a bigoted
Papist, and grossly misrepresented the
character of the book to the Turkish
Bey who controls the Custom House!
The books seized were carried to-the
Mejlis, or Council, and there subjected
to a rigid examination. The Moslem
Mufti read on in the copy given to him
with increasing delight, and when he
found strong Scriptural arguments
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST IT, 1865.
against image and picture worship, ex
claimed, “ This is a good book. Tell
■the Gdspel men I wish a copy myself.”
Shortly after, the seized copies were all
sent back to the book shop, and the
officious censor was censured.
On your return home you find the
book-binder, with two hundred copies of
the newly-bound Arabic Bible, waiting
to be paid. He has twenty-six hundred
copies to bind, and you pay him a little
in advance, to enable him to meet heavy
bills for pasteboard and leather. You
urge him to make all possible dispatch,
as the orders for the new Bible are mul
tiplying, and the mission in Egypt alone
have ordered one thousand, copies.—
Soon after a Protestant woman calls
to ask admission to the church at the
next communion, and you spend half an
hour in conversation with her.—A
workman from the press comes run
ning in pale with fright, saying that
the cholera has broken out in Beirut,
and wants to know what to do.
Yon ask him his authority. He says,
“ they say” a man just now died of it
near the- Buij. You tell him not to
credit street rumors and return to his
work.—Several steamers have come
from Alexandria, loaded down with refu
gees from the cholera. They are all
placed in quarantine, and those who
have just been released from quarantine
are telling about the streets what they
haVe seen in Egypt, and the whole pop
ulation of Beirut is beginning to tremble
with alarm.—You find it necessary to
go in person to Dr. Barclay, the Ameri
can physician, and obtain from him the
express statement that there is not and
has not been a case of- cholera in Beirut.
Just as you are beginning to get
settled about your work again, Mr. Bis
tany, Principal of the large Native
Boarding School for boys, calls to see
you about the printing of his great Ara-‘
bic dictionary, which we are now 1 print
ing as job-work. There is some misun
derstanding about the terms, apd as a
change was made by Dr. Van Dy ck j ust be
fore leaving, and the whole business of
printing and publishing is something you
never learned and find it difficult to
understand without giving your whole
time to it, you are not able to give Mr.
Bistany much satisfaction, but enter in to
the question a 3 well as you can, and pro
mise to write to Dr. Yan Dyck for fur
ther instructions. You begin to wonder
what’will become of your sermons next
Sabbath and the Sabbath after that and
after that, if this rush ot business turmoil
and care and entanglement is to con
tinue. As Mr. Bistany goes away, you
ask yourself how such and such a min
ister at home would like to have the
quiet hours of sermon preparation dis
tracted by bills, and accounts, and build
ing, and printing, and post-office business,
almost every day of the week ?—Then
comes a lull. There remains an hour be
fore dinner. You lock the door and
give orders that no one be allowed to
come up the stairs. It is well you are
able to keep Custom House and Bible
binding and cholera and dictionary-print
ing out of your thoughts, and settle
down to deliberate thought about your
sermon. You know that “ beaten oil”
alone is fit for the sanctuary of God, but
you feel very much as though everything
else would be beaten but the oil this
week.—But you have chosed your sub
ject, and commenced your skeleton and
that is one-half, and to-morrow and next
day, the morning sermon at least will be
thought out and finished. Bo you hope.
In the afternoon you callat the house
of a friend urho has just buried his dear
est earthly friend, and you try to speak
some words 'of consolation. Various
matters of business, too, call you down
into the city, and on your return you
find Mr. Araman, Principal of the Na
tive Female Seminary, waiting to-make
up the monthly account. You enter into
a long conversation with regard to the
school and its future prospects; about
Louisa Mejdelany, who is supported
by the North Broad Street Sabbath
school, and several other girls supported
by friends in America, and six charity
pupils who receive no support from home,
and who must be discharged in a few
weeks for want of the means to keep
them on. Mr. Araman entreats for them.
Says that some of them are bright and
promising, and are just getting a good
start, and it would be wrong to send
them aWay now; that their parents are
poor and some of them are*orpbans ; and
again begs me to write to Christian
friends in America to contribute the
eighty dollars in gold which is now ne
cessary for their support. I ask him to
write such an appeal' and I will try to
find time to translate it and send it to
America. We then speak of the new
building; the plan is discussed. We
are to build according to the funds con
tributed by kind friends while I was in
America. Seven thousand dollars are
paid in, but that- will not suffice for the
accommodation of the school, and we
must use what we have, trusting that
the Lord will yet incline some of the be
nevolent at home-to complete the fund
to the sum of ten thousand dollars. The
examination last week was one. of the
best ever held in Beirut, and the girls
did themselves and their friends great
credit.—ln the evening you call upon
several families of the congregation, after
writing a number of pressing business
letters, and resolve that you will be more
moderate and careful of health and
strength another day.
Wednesday, June 28 This morning
early you are reminded that the tiles for
the roof of the new building must be or
dered from Italy, in order to be here in
the fall when they are needed. You call
at the store of a friend in town and give
him the measure of the roof and order
seven thousand tiles.—You call also at
the office of the Liverpool steamers, to
enquire after some missing boxes.—On
reaching home you find several packages
of letters from various places, some re
quiring immediate answer.' A quarrel
has taken place among some of the work
men in the press, and you must stop in
and settle it.—A telegram comes from
Sidon that Mr. Ford and family have
just set sail from Sidon in a native sloop,
and will be here soon after noon. You
order animals to be saddled and sent
down to the -shore, and at two o’clock
you see the boat swing around Ras Bei
rut before the wind, and hasten to the
Custom House to greet them. Four hours
in that little craft have been enough to
make pale faces still paler, and the
whole party look like fit subjects for the
hospital. An hour more and they are
safely under your roof, and you praise
the Lord for'his goodness. Your heart
fills with gratitude that they were pre
served from going to pestilential Alex
andria at this season. In two days
they will take the steamer North, and go
to Liverpool via Smyrna.—Little sick
Sarah is laid on the divan, and her eyes
sparkle with delight as she drinks a full
draught of water cooled with Lebanon
snow. May she speedily find in the sea
air invigoration and health. Crowds of
the native Protestants come in to see
Mr. Ford, their former pastor and mis
sionary, and to wish him God speed, on
his journey.
Towards evening an Irish Protestant
gentleman called to see the press and to
inquire about our mission work. He
seemed deeply interested, and asked very
intelligent questions. Just as he was
leaving, however, he asked the Ameri
can news. Said he, “Do you think
they will do any violence to Mr. Davis ?”
I replied that , if the Government con
victed him of treason, they would hang
him. He said it could not be treason
for a man to defend his rights. Said
he, " Mr. Davis only wished to be let
alone.” -I told him that if the Arabs
should shoot him on the highway, they
would only wish to be let alone; but
that it was no use to discuss the Ameri
can Constitution with a man who be
lieved in secession, and begged him to
change the subject.
Thursday, June 2d.—The sermon did
not grow much to-day. It has been
pay-day for' all the press and mission
employees, and five hours were spent in
steady work on accounts with the press,
the mission, the Bible Societies,in New
York and London, the school, and with
different individuals in this and other
missions.
An unprecedented panic has fallen
upon the city. There is not a case ofj,
cholera nor the sign of it; but certain
parties, by a system of intensifiediprien
tal lying, have so frightened the people
that-they are fleeing in hot bhste to the
mountains. A continuous’procession of
people, men, women, and children, is
passing out of the city toward Lebanon,
mounted on horses, mules, camels, and
donkies, an.d the most fabulous prices
are extorted by the. muleteers who take
advantage of the public alarm. The
physicians say there is less sickness than
usual in Beirut, and no case of cholera
thus far, although <ft least eighteen hun
dred refugees have been brought from
Alexandria, many of whom are now
through the quarantine and living in the
city. The workmen in the press are so
alarmed that the work is well nigh sus
pended. The High School of Mr. Bis
tany is locked up, the teachers refusing
to remain any longer, and the boys have
gone home. I have never witnessed a
panic so complete, on so slight found a
tion. The panic in 1860 was"greater,
when Druzes and Moslems were deso
lating the land with fire and massacre,
and the whole mountain poured down
into Beirut. Now all Beirut is stamped
ing to the mountain. The workmen on
the new building continue at their post,
but may leave at any moment.
Friday, June 30.—T0-day Mr. Ford
and family leave by French steamer for
Smyrna. The French mails have -been
received and delivered, and- mails dis
patched to various points. Boxes of
Bibles.have been sent to Egypt.—The
news from Egypt reports that the chol
era is increasing in Alexandria and
spreading to other parts of Egypt. The
greater part of the shops and magazines
in the city being closed, the Greek and
Italian burglars are robbing and plun
dering the city with fearful boldness and
success. The deaths are said to num
ber two hundred a day in Alexandria.
It is said that about fifty thousand of
the Moslem pilgrims died in Mecca and
El Medinah during March and. April,
and through their return and the want
of a quarantine at Suez, the disease was
brought into Egypt. A Moslem in Bei
rut to-day remarked to another, “ Have
you heard of the great, favor of God to
Haj (pilgrims) this year ?” “ No, your
excellency, what is it?” “May your
days be prolonged; thousands died and
went to Paradise from the Holy City
itself.”—Of the multitudes now fleeing to
Lebanon, only a few Moslem have gone.
They believe the cholera to be fated, and
regard all quarantines and precautions
as unbefitting a true believer. But for
the money to be made out of it, I doubt
whether the wicked officials would keep
up the quarantine.—The Girl’s Boarding
School is disbanded for the present, the
parents and friends having taken the
girls to their homes. It was near the
end of the term, and will only make the
summer vacation a little longer than
usual. The workmen at tbe press have
decided to take their annual vacation the
coming week. In vain I attempted to
persuade them to wait until August, as
the health of Beirut is excellent now.
There is no reasoning with fear.—Letters
are coming from every direction, inquir
ing about cholera in Beirut. The Pro
testants flock in, asking advice about
going to the mountains or remaining.
The whole day there have been a suc
cession of calls, and Friday evening
finds you too weary for study.
Saturday, July 1 Letters from vari
ous parts of Syria speak of progress in :
the missionary work. There is an in
creasing demand for books and schools.
At Safeta, North of Tripoli, three hun
dred of the Pagan Nusairiyeh and Greek
nominal Christian population have be
come Protestant, and the missionaries at
Tripoli, after visiting them, have sent
them a native teacher and preacher. The
native pastor in Hums is growing in the
affections of the people, and quite a num
ber are still asking admission to the
church.—Our numbers, as a mission, are
being rapidly reduced. Mr. Eddy is
now left alonej to work the whole of
Southern Syria, with a field large enough
for three men. The departure of Dr.
Yan Dyck, and the prospective departure
of Dr. Thomson, will leave me alone in
Beirut to carry on the various depart-.
ments of labor briefly hinted at in this
hurried journal. -In Lebanon, Mr. Cal
houn and Mr. Bird, with health by no
means strong, are trying to bear the bur
den of the Young Men’s Seminary and
general missionary work. Dr. Post and
Mr. Samuel Jessup have the Northern
field. Some of us must break down ere
long. No one can bear such burdens in
such a climate without being obliged to
succumb sooner or later. We hope for
relief. It must be that some of the
Christian young men of America will
hear the Macedonian cry and come over
and help us. I have read the proceedings
of the General Assembly of last month.
The demand at home is great beyond
precedent 5 but will our churches neglect
the foreign field? Just at this impor
tant crisis in the missionary work, when
the word of God is being sought for so
eagerly, when churches are being organ
ized and pastors ordained, and religious
and educational institutions founded for
the future, shall we withdraw our sup
port and withhold the offering of our
children and our means from this great
enterprise? I rejoice in the interest
manifested in our Assembly. I trust it
will bring forth fruit, and that every
Presbytery will have its Foreign Mission
report ana see that a collection is taken
in every church.
Ihave written you this letter to tell
you why I cannot write so often as I
'should wish to do. It is enough to be
pastor and preacher and general mission
ary in a city of eighty thousand people.
But when you are also publisher, printer,
postmaster, school superintendent, trea
surer, book agent, forwarding merchant,
with a correspondence in English and
Arabic, requiring about five letters a
day, and your accounts must be kept in
two different and distinct systems of
currency, and you have to : use. and re
duce to piastres the coinage of Turkey,
Russia, Austria, Prussia, France, Eng
land, Italy, and Spain, and have an in
stinctive repugnance to the whole busi
ness of accounts—you can ask to be
excused from writing often or at great
length, even to your nearest friends.
I am spending a few days now in Leba
non, but return to Beirut again to-morrow.
The stampede to the mountains still con
tinues, and the city is will nigh emptied
of its Christian.population. Two of the
Alexandria refugees have died, one with
in the city ; but there seems no present
peril. We can only trust in the Lord
and do present duty. With the press
closed and scho'ols disbanded and build
ing about to be suspended, and the con
gregation scattered to the mountains, it
is a question how much missionary work
can be done on the plain this summer.
Remember us in your prayers.
Yours in Christ,
Henry Harris Jessup.
RICHMOND CORRESPONDENCE.
Richmond, August 2, 1865.
The first election under the auspices
of the restored Federal and State Gov
ernments occurred a week ago. Nearly
all the prominent candidates published
electioneering cards adducing their devo
tion to the interests of the late Confede
racy as a reason for being invested with
the authority of the offices desired. No
one of the successful ones dared to pro
claim his record of unconditional loyalty
to the Government of the United States,
as a qualification for the magistracy.
The successful candidates were so ob
noxious to the Government, that the
military authorities refused to allow
them to take the oath and asstfine the
functions of their respective offices. The
New York Daily News is glad to find
that the result “ shows that the people
of -Virginia delight to honor those who
fought the invader.” The event has
disappointed many who hoped that the
oath of fealty to the Government in
cluded a hearty renunciation of the prin
ciples and designs involved in the late
and disasterous war.
The religious press is not yet fully at
work, and the news from the churches is
vague and ■of no recent date. Two
Presbyterian journals are issued here,
each semi-monthly. They both retain
much of their former spirit. The want
of mail facilities, for the present, pre
cludes any extensive circulation. The
Episcopal Methodist has been issued by
Drs. Edwards and Doggett, of the M.
E. Church South. Only one number
has yet appeared. Two other journals,
in the interest of the Baptist denomina
tion, will soon be published. This will
make the number of religious weeklies
equal to that published during the 'days
of the Confederacy, besides the prospect
of having another added by the Episco
palians.
The colored people in connection with
the M. E. Church South have recently
changed their relation and united with
the African M. E. Church. The owner
ship of their house, of worship is vested
in the episcopacy of the church with
which they formerly were connected,
and is held in trust by certain white
trustees. These refused to yield the
possession, or to allow the people the use
the edifice under their changed church
relations. The military authorities have
given the blacks temporary possession
until the affair can be adjusted. Mean
while, the former' white pastor, Rev.
George Nolly, proclaimed his intention
to organize a minority into a new church,
to have the same connection as the old
one. • He has preached on two succes
sive Sabbaths to this minority, in the
basement of the Centenary M. E. Church.
On both occasions the audience was lim
ited to the membership of this new organi
zation and comprised just three persons.
The. Rev. Henry Garnett, D.D., has
spent several Sabbaths among the col
ored churches of this city, preaching
with great acceptance. Last evening
he addressed the “ Lincoln Institute” at
St. Philip’s (Episcopal) Church. The
Institute is an association of twenty
young men and women, who are under
instructions, preparatory to becoming
teachers of their kindred recently made
free. The address wag appropriate to
the purposes of the Institute, sensible,
and adapted to benefit the audience.
The excessive heat has temporarily
driven away Dearly all the northern
benevolent and missionary associations.
The secular schools for the Freedmen
have their vacations. The Christian
Commission expects shortly to leave the
field. The Union Commission has
ceased its distributions. The American
Tract Society, however, continues its
labors among both the whites and colored
people, supplying books and other pub
lications necessary to the successful
working of all who have a desire to
teach the word of God.
The American Bible Society' has
established a depot of its publications at
131 Broad Street, from which it is
making lajge benevolent distributions
throughout the State. The Virginia
Bible Society has recently met and re
solved to continue its operations. It
has not yet signified its willingness to
resume its former position as auxiliary
to the National Society, but it is hoped
that in due time there will be a hearty
and cordial co-operation.
Your readers are aware that the con
gregation of Rev. Dr. Read, Presby
terian, lost their house of worship in the
burning, of the city. The people are for
the present wholly unable to rebuild
their church, but they offer the debris for
sale, in the hope thus to procure suffi
cient means to enable them to construct
a lecture-room large enough for Sabbath
school and temporary congregational
purposes.
The action of the General Assemblies
at Brooklyn and Pittsburg is very un
popular at the South. Every denomi
nation quotes it as a reason for similar
unfriendly action on the part of Southern
ecclesiastical organizations. The Metho
dist Episcopal Church North, is acting
in the spirit as the Assemblies referred
to, taking measures to plant churches in
the midst of the territory occupied by
the M. E. Church South. The action,
however, has not been so formal as that
of the Presbyterians, and hence the
opposition is as yet confined to the
points of local contact between the two
bodies.
Measures are being taken to have a
meeting of the General Assembly of the
Confederate Presbyterian Church dur
ing the approaching fall, but it is not
yet definitely announced. The Metho
dist Church Boards are called to meet
at Columbus, Georgia, at an early day,
in order to put their former publication
and missionary organizations in working
order. Yours, etc., G. L. S.
WOMAN'S SYMPATHY FOR SOLDIERS.
There is touching pathos in some of the
marks attached to the blankets, shirts,
handkerchiefs, and the like, sent to the
Sanitary Commission for the soldiers in
camp and hospital. Thus on a' bed quilt
was pinned a card having this tender in
scription :
“My son is in the‘army; whoever is
made warm by this quilt, which I have
worked on for six days and most of six
nights, let him remember his own mother’s
love T
Who can doubt that these simple words
have made some, weak one strong again,
filled some sad heart with joy and hope?
On a pillow sent to the commission was
written:—
“ This pillow belonged to my little hoy,
who died resting on it; it is a precious trea
sure to me, but I give it to the soldiers!”
On a box of beautiful lint was this in
scription :—“ Made in a sick room, where
the sunlight has not entered for nine years,
but where God has entered, and where two
sons have bid their mother good-bye, as
they have gone to the war.” What a spirit
of sacrifice and saintly heroism shines
through this little sentence; sunshine, joy,
sympathy, coming out of the shadow; the
sick room giving teuder greeting to the
camp-fire and the hospital But the ten
derest of all inscriptions we have seen is
this, written on some eye-shades:—“ Made
by one who is blind. Oh! how I long to see
the dear old flag you are fighting under 1”