Page:The Story of the Jubilee Singers (7th).djvu/99

 its needs were greater than ever. Its new site, and the new hall standing upon it, was simply the solid foundation for future growth, and it was entirely without the means, within itself, of supporting, to say nothing of enlarging, its work. Money was urgently needed for endowments from which to provide for the support of teachers and to aid earnest, struggling students to educate themselves for Christian work as teachers and ministers of the Gospel. In the poverty of the freed people the revenue from tuition fees could be but a trifle at the best, compared with its expenses.

The continual financial pressure in the United States caused a serious shrinkage in the receipts of the American Missionary Association. Many who were wont to give liberally to such objects were unable to do so longer. Urged by these pressing necessities, and convinced that God pointed out the way by His providences, the Jubilee Singers, after a few months of rest, again took the field. Mr. White's health was still so seriously impaired that it was impossible for him to undertake such exhausting work as was involved in the entire care of a concert campaign, and Prof. T. F. Seward, of New York, the well-known composer, who first wrote down the Jubilee Songs, and had been deeply interested in the work, was fortunately secured to share the labour.

A series of concerts was given during the winter and spring in the larger cities of the North, preliminary to another tour abroad. Some of them were very successful, but the net receipts of the winter's work were not large. The "times" were hard; the