Читать книгу: «The American Missionary. Volume 50, No. 09, September, 1896», страница 5

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER OF A SOUTHERN PASTOR

I desire to explain to you some features of what I conceive to be the most interesting scheme I have witnessed in the South for a long time. You have, I suppose, received one or two copies of our little paper. Let me give you a bit of history concerning it.

It was a short while after the "local option" election, in which the friends and advocates of temperance and good government went down in inglorious defeat before the red-faced saloon-keepers and other votaries of vice, when the executive committee of the "Prohibs" saddled the cause of defeat on the Negroes' shoulders. The cause of defeat agreed upon, a few generous-hearted men thought it would be much better to make some kind of effort to elevate the Negro than to grieve about what was already done. So the idea of a manual training-school was advanced by two gentlemen, one of whom is a stanch Southerner, who for a long time had the unenviable reputation of believing and openly advocating the strange and illogical theory that the Negro has no soul; the other is a minister of Southern birth, but of Northern education. Infatuated with the prospects of ultimate success, and having, it seems providentially, come upon a man who was a printer and owned an outfit, they talked with him, and he, needing work, was evidently smitten with the idea. Thoroughly understanding themselves, they sought a conference with a few representative colored men. I was among the first to be interviewed. The minister put the matter before me, and I saw nothing unworthy in it, and it drew out my sympathy immediately. After talking the whole matter over we agreed to call a meeting. The meeting was called in the well-furnished office of a colored man. There were six present—three white men and three colored men. We talked over the matter again, each one stating his limitations in the affair. I asked the white gentlemen present if they thought they could stand the sentiment that would doubtless be brought to bear upon them. They said, "While we anticipate opposition, we are sure we can withstand all assaults." "Then," said I, "we have nothing to lose." The whites were to have a part of the paper and the colored a part—a quarter or a half, as they might desire. I was asked to take charge of the colored department, and with reluctance I agreed. The paper went through eight issues. The whites interested in it found the pressure too great for them, and the owner of the outfit found the support entirely too meager. The white editor while in attendance at a church convention was in some cases refused the courtesy of a Christian introduction. One young woman who was a friend of the editor refused to introduce him to her friend because he was in the newspaper business with a "nigger." A banker was asked to subscribe, but refused, saying there was too much – "nigger" about that paper for him. The merchants generally refused to advertise in it. After an existence of about eight weeks the paper ceased temporarily or permanently, I know not whether the former or the latter. When I talked with the originator of the idea he candidly confessed: "I was born in the South, held slaves in the South, have lived in the South all my life, but the prejudice among the white people against the Negroes is greater than I thought. While I am entirely independent of public opinion, the reflection on my friends Mr. – and Dr. – has been very great."

LETTER FROM A FORMER STUDENT AT MOBILE

Dear Friend: I entered Emerson Institute the first Monday in October of 1892, but long before that time I had contemplated going there to school, though not having any immediate support I could not attend until the above-named time. Just two days before I entered the school I had accepted a position as clerk, but seeing the great need of an education I quit immediately and entered school. When I entered Emerson I had not been in school for about seven years, but had to some extent been engaged in study. I had no sure means of support, but was determined to educate myself.

Our principal, seeing my earnestness, gave me the privilege of living at the "Home," which enabled me to work out my board and tuition. I gladly accepted. And it is here the lasting influence began its effect upon me. Indeed, I cannot state the first impression made, but I do know the best; that is, it was here I became a Christian and was made to accept Christ as my Saviour. I think I professed religion in March of 1893, during Mr. Moore's work there. From this step I began to build a principle that would be able to stand the many temptations that would come upon me. The next best thing, it was here (at Emerson) I was made to realize the evil effect of alcoholic liquors, and when, as before that time, I had some toleration for wine, etc., I pledged myself against it and became a strong defender of "Prohibition." I was fortunate in being awarded a prize for the best-made speech on Prohibition in a contest given by Emerson Institute on May 22, 1894; and I almost decided to become a temperance lecturer.

It is impossible for me to enumerate the myriad of good influences that have surrounded me by being a student in Mobile. But permit me to say that if there is any one thing in earth that I owe for my stableness in that which is right, it is my having been immediately under the good influences of Emerson Institute and its earnest teachers. I have been made to see the power of a good education. My mind, heart, and soul have been broadened; and now I am able to look upon humanity from a broader point of view. It has certainly given me a more congenial spirit, and wherein I may have been conceited, I am not now. One very important influence is that I have decided to never stop short of the very best possible education. I have been made to believe that morality is the only standard for ideal Christianity.

A few words of what I am doing and shall do. I shall soon be teaching my motto, "A high moral standard," pure and upright, to benefit the largest possible number in shortest possible time. I shall endeavor by God's assistance to instill in my pupils these true principles of right doing and the possibilities brought through education. And as I have been influenced by Emerson Institute and its teachers, I shall try and do likewise to those whom I shall assume authority over.

I think that you will be able to get an idea of how I have been influenced by Emerson Institute by the narrative which I have given, although scattering.

I trust that you will pray for my success, and that I may be able to stand the test. I have endeavored to give veracity in this matter, with no exaggeration. Neither have I spoken in hyperbolical terms, to make the wrong impression. Trusting that this is the question that you asked me, properly answered, I am hopeful that your stay with us this year has been crowned with success, and that you may return next year with even greater determination, and that the results may be a hundred-fold. Kind wishes to all the teachers. I am,

Yours sincerely,

W. L. Jones.

GRAND VIEW CHURCH

REV. W. W. DORNAN

The Grand View Congregational Church is situated on Waldon's Ridge, overlooking the pleasant valley of Tennessee. The outlook on the southern side reaches to the Unaka chain of mountains in North Carolina, a distance of about seventy miles. Westward and northward rise in the background of the forest the mountains of the Cumberland plateau. On the east, the trees shut out everything but the sky.

We are about 800 feet above the sea-level, giving a most delightful and salubrious atmosphere. The moral atmosphere is equally good. The nearest place for liquors and their accompanying vices is in the valley beneath.

The Congregational Church was organized at this place on October 15, 1885, under the superintendency of the American Missionary Association. The congregation was composed wholly of people from the Northern States, who had come to the mountains seeking health. These, to the number of about twenty-five families, form the neighborhood of Grand View. Outside of this place are to be found the people of the mountains, scattered across the mountain-top, in a little clearing here and another there. In the midst of the woods, during the summer, it is a "discovery" to find the log house, the home of the mountaineer. The occupation of all is farming. There is no other means for a livelihood.

Many of the church members own their own homes; usually two-story frame buildings.

During the present pastorate twenty-one have united with the church; fourteen by letter, seven by confession. Out of this number we have nine who are mountaineers, the first acquisition of the native element to the church. We have a small but neat building, seating 150, in which services are held every Sunday morning and evening. A Christian Endeavor Society embraces a large number of the young people for whom we labor.

This church is in connection with a large and flourishing school. The students come to us from three States, and thus the influence of the American Missionary Association is scattered far and wide. We are the center of a large but poor class of people who have no means to help themselves. If they are ever to help themselves, they must receive a start from outside. When they do get a chance they usually go ahead.

We have among our students many teachers of the public schools lifting the tone of the whole mountain. Last year about sixteen of the students taught school during the vacation, covering a territory from Red Belt, Georgia, to Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee. Several lawyers, former students, are now practicing at the bar in Tennessee and other States. To our honor one of our graduates is a missionary in China; many have gone forth to usefulness. Many, if not all, of these would have been unable to do anything for themselves but for the benevolence of the churches and the planting of the school and church in this place. The ideas with which the Association set out to work are no longer theories, but established facts.

The success of the Association, I believe, lies, next to God's blessing, in the fact that they realized that not only the school is needed to make better men and women, but also the church to fit these men and women for the struggles of life. Both together are needed to do the work.

In this place, where "the work which this society is doing touches every fiber of our national life," that which produced the sterling manhood of New England in the past days, and made our national life a possibility and then a fact, can, in a like manner in the future, produce such men and women on the mountains and in the valleys of the South.

Such a work should give hope and courage to every friend of this Association, and I believe that in the last day it will be a great surprise to many to know how many homes they have helped to brighten, and how many lives they have helped to bless, and how many souls they have helped to save.