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.
Remarks by Mr. John H. Washburn.
Mr. President.—The last few years have been remarkable in gifts and legacies. Some have endowed colleges and universities; some, as in this case, have been for the benefit of a peculiar race, but no one in his own lifetime has ever selected a benevolent association as beneficiary, and endowed it with such a munificent gift as Daniel Hand has bestowed upon the American Missionary Association. He was, it seems to me, wise in choosing this course. Others have seen fit to put their funds in the hands of trustees organized and incorporated to hold the trust. He might have done that, but what would have been the gain over the present plan? Those trustees must have availed themselves, as the trustees of the Peabody Fund and the trustees of the Slater Fund are compelled to do, of existing organizations for knowing the needs of the people; where and how the money can be used to the best advantage. Mr. Hand availed himself of an organization ready to his hand, one whose agents are better qualified to judge of the needs of the people, the plans to be pursued, the work to be done, than any other organization in this country.
Now the first thought of the executive officers and committee in receiving this magnificent gift is gratitude to God, who put it into the heart of this man to entrust to us such great means of usefulness for the people for which we labor. But there is a second thought; is this gift to be a blessing to us or a curse? That depends upon our constituents, the men and women personally, and on the churches, not on the officers of the Association. How do you, the individual givers to this Association, regard this gift? Every special gift to such organizations as this, whether it be for special endowment or to establish special schools, implies more money, an increase of contribution. Gifts for new buildings, gifts for establishing new plant are apt to be an embarrassment unless the individuals will respond with increased donations. Now this fund which is given us, while the terms are liberal, is limited in its scope,—it is strictly for the education of the colored youth in the Southern States of America. Not one dollar of this can be used for general work, not one dollar for the Indian, or for our Mountain Work; strictly limited in its use, we need in consequence even more money than before. We are endowed with this great gift, but we may not be able to use it efficiently if there is a lack of supplementary contributions, and for that reason we make a new and strong appeal for them.
You pay your money where you have your interest. That man who, in building a mission church in a rough, uncouth neighborhood, called on the hoodlums in the vicinity to make a contribution of a brick apiece for the new church, was a wise man. Every bootblack, every newsboy, every garbage gatherer in it who put a brick in that church had an interest in it. It was "Our Church," and at once the interest of the neighborhood was secured for this mission church, as it could have been done in no other way. So we ask you to withhold not your bricks; with the bricks will come the interest, the heart, the prayers.
Remarks by Dr. Mears.
Rev. Dr. Mears, who occupied the chair temporarily, followed the address of Mr. Washburn, voicing the gratitude of the Association. He spoke of the feelings almost of depression after the great wants of the work had been so evident from the various reports and addresses of the meeting. The words of reply to the prophet in the famine stricken city of Samaria had been often repeated as to the possibility of relief for those despised; "Behold if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" This munificent gift of a million dollars seems like a gift dropped from the pierced hand into the lap of this Association. It seems a seal of the divine favor upon this organization, whose sole care is for those races that are poor and despised. The speaker referred to the suggestion of Mr. Washburn, that the gift must be either a blessing or a curse. It would be a curse if the benefactions of the churches should be withheld because of Mr. Hand's munificence. The divineness of the gift, however, precluded such a fear. There is too much consecration in the hearts of God's children to keep back a single offering for those for whom Christ died. The great promise of the Master will prove itself true; "To him that hath shall be given." Turning to the members of the Executive Committee, the suggestion was made that the manner in which they should guard this great gift would be a potent factor in urging greater gifts from the churches. In such hands was left the burden of showing that only a blessing and not a curse was possible. Be true to your great trust. His closing words were in recognition of the blessings sure to rest upon the venerable giver whose last days have been so near heaven as to catch the beams of holy light.
SKETCH OF MR. HAND'S LIFE
Daniel Hand was born in Madison, Conn., July 16, 1801, and was therefore in the eighty-eighth year of his age when he made his gift for the education of the colored people at the South. His ancestors have resided in that town for several generations and were always landholders, industrious, quiet and respectable. To this ancestry Mr. Hand is probably indebted under God for his physical vigor, long life, strength of character and success in business. He was the fourth son of seven, and was on the farm under his father's direction until he was sixteen years of age, when he was put in charge of his second brother, Augustus F. Hand, who was then a merchant at Augusta, Ga., and whom he succeeded in business. In 1854 Mr. Hand went to New York in connection with his Southern business, and remained there in that capacity until the beginning of the war in 1861. He resided in some portion of the Southern Confederacy during the entire war, and was never treated with violence in any way, and no Confederate officer ever offered him indignity or even an unkind word.
Mr. G.W. Williams, a native Georgian, was, at about the age of sixteen, employed by Mr. Hand as a clerk in Augusta, and in a few years was taken in as partner. Mr. Williams suggested a branch of the business in Charleston, and conducted it successfully. When the war came on Mr. Hand's capital was largely employed in the Charleston business, which Mr. Williams as a Southern man continued, having the use of Mr. Hand's capital, which the Confederate Government vainly endeavored to confiscate by legal proceedings against Mr. Hand, as a Northern man of pronounced anti-slavery sentiments. After the war Mr. Hand came North and left it to his old partner, Mr. Williams, to adjust the business and make up the accounts, allowing him almost unlimited time for so doing. When this was accomplished, Mr. Williams came North and paid over to Mr. Hand his portion of the long-invested capital and its accumulations, as an honest and honorable merchant and trusted partner should do.
Many years ago Mr. Hand was bereaved of wife and children, and he has since remained unmarried. This fact, together with his benevolent impulses, led him to form plans to use his property for the benefit of mankind. He thought at first of devoting a part of it to some Northern colleges, but his attention being turned to the needed and successful work done among the colored people of the South, his purpose was soon formed to aid them. He said he knew them, and the disadvantages arising out of their ignorance, their inability to keep accounts, to secure their rights in making settlements, and consequently the hindrances they encountered in their industries and in the acquisition of lands and homes. As it was known that he had money and benevolent intentions in regard to the use of it, many methods were suggested to him for that purpose. Some of these he investigated with care, but he never saw occasion to change the purpose which he formed more than ten years ago, to make the colored people his beneficiaries through the American Missionary Association, which he found was doing so large and successful a work among the very people whom he wished to benefit, and in methods in accordance with his own views. More than ten years ago he had incorporated in his will a legacy of $100,000 for the Association. It was suggested to him at that time that he should become his own executor, but he felt that his securities were safe and productive, and at last it became a cherished purpose with him to make the gift a million of dollars as soon as he could do so with due regard to other objects he had in view.
The consummation of this great purpose was finally closed by the transfer (October 22nd) of the securities to the Association by the Hon. Luzon B. Morris, who has been throughout his trusted and honored legal and financial adviser.