V. I I - ' A wt e I’ublishcd by the PRKSBYTERIAN COMMI FTEE OF PUBLICATION I’k'limonct. Va. Texarkana, Ark.-Tex. “Within Our Doors” OUR WORK AMONG the NEGROES A mute appeal — the Old for sympathy — the New for ^idance By Miss S. 0*H mCKSON WINSTON-SALEM. N. C. "Within Our Doors” OUR WORK AMONG the NEGROKS By MISS S. O’H. DICKSON WINSTON SALEM, N. C. A IVaitin^ Home Mission Field open, not at our doors, but nuith- in our doors." — Rev. J. B. Gambrell, D. D. Published by the PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION, Richmond, Va.. Texarkana. Ark. -Tex. STILLMAN INSTITUTE. TUSCALOOSA, ALA. FOR TRAINING COLORED MINISTERS. FOREWORD The work of getting together the needed facts contained in the following story of the work of the Southern Presby- terian Church among the negroes would never have been attempted had not the request come from headquarters, and also had it not been in s)Tnpathy with abiding interest and prayers, inherited, as she believes, not only from her mother, but from her brother. Rev. A. F. Dickson, who through all his life occupied the place of father and spiritual adviser, — and if by this work which has proved .such a source of pleas- ure — the interest, — the working, praying, giving interest of the woman of the Church shall be increased, so that we may feel that we have a share of this great obligation to the col- ored race on our shoulders, and that we can and we will pay it, she will feel that she can record another of the “answered prayers of a grateful heart.” May, 1913. S. O’H. Dickson. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/withinourdoorsOOdick “Within Our Doors” With Conscienxes Amakexed, Hoav Shall We Begin? “The first thing needed is a deepening sense of responsi- bility for the well-being, spiritual and temporal, of this weaker race. What am I doing to uplift the negroes in my community? Have I ever troubled myself about their religious life? Have I ever tried to start a Sunday School ? Have I ever tried a sewing class for girls, or in some way to help the boys to pass the evenings in a pleasant and yet wholesome manner? How can we blame the young people for going astray if we never lend a helping hand to hold them back? “It is time to quit thinking of the negro as the white man’s burden.” Let us rather look at the burden he is bear- ing, the neglect of which the Church has been guilty too long, and let us share his burden — the burden of lifting his race to the knowledge and love of God. How much of the thriftlessness, yea, and of the criminality which has stained the record of the race since the Civil War gave them freedom, may we not be charged with, when we stand before the Bar of God? We cannot undo the errors of the past, but we can repent and begin yww to pray more, to work more to build up a Presbyterian Colored Church, on which the smile of God shall rest ! “.\11 over the South,” says Dr. Gambrell, in his admira- ble leaflet, “The Race Question in the South,” “there should be representative meetings of white and negro leaders to 6 “ WiTHix Our Doors.” devise ways and means to advance the cause of civic right- eousness, educational improvement, industrial development, whatever would be for the common welfare.” In other and plainer words, there is something more for us to do than to teach a Mission Sunday School on Sunday afternoon, and then forget these neighbors all the week. In towns where the Civic Leagues have called on them to “clean up” and beautify, they have taken hold with zest, and those who have conducted Industrial Classes for both boys and girls, know how quickly they learn and how eagerly they take hold. We are all better Christians if we are clean and indus- trious, for this makes us more self-respectful, and when we are self-respectful we realize that there is respect due oth- ers. If we love our brother whom we have seen, we love God better. It is by this ladder we climb to Heaven — and help others to climl). Says Rev. Neal L. .\nderson, D. D., in “The Race Prob- lem in the South”: “If we talked less about the race prob- lem, and thought more about our personal duty as Chris- tians, there would be less of a problem for us and for our children.” Is THE Problem or His Ev.\ngeliz.'\tion More Complex N ow.? It would seem so, for more reasons than one. Given the educational opportunity he, as a rule, takes only what costs least effort; for the negro, as a rule, has not lost that na- tural inertia which has come down to him through centuries. The exceptions which, happily, we find in every part of the country, only prove the rule. Within Our Doors.” / With often no higher aspiration than imitation of the pros- perous whites with whom he comes in touch, he rises above the average, but this is shown in superficial ways — as those who observe closely will testify — and the problem of his real uplift, the uplift of his soul, of building him up to the full stature of manhood in Christ, would seem hopeless if we did not feel sure that God wills that he should be saved, that Jesus died for him, and that there is a place for him in heaven. God calls us now to this work. Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” Can we — dare we, refuse to obey when this promise is ours? Wh.at C.^x We Do? We come now to the vital question for Southern women in reference to this great work. \\'ith a deepened sense of our responsibility, we face the questions, “^^’hat ran we — what ought we to do?” Happily for them, there are women who have answered by going to work, and in so doing have set us an inspiring e.xample. The very fact that over forty Mission Sunday Schools have been established is itself evidence that there are some ne- groes who want aid from their white neighbors. Rev. D. D. Little, of Tuscaloosa, says that he “has never heard of a single instance where an effort to establish such a school has failed on account of lack of interest among the negroes.” e could not give space for the stories of all these schools, even if we had been able to collect them, but there are some so remarkable that we feel to read of them will be inspiring, and may the effect be to make us all take as our motto, “What man, and woman, too, has 8 WiTHix Our Doors. done, man, and woman, too, can do” — by the grace of God. The wonderful success of Rev. John Little’s work in Louisville, Ky., is familiar to all. It is the story of earnest and self-denving men and women, who have given time and strength and prayer to this work, and have reaped the re- ward of a remarkable success, but there are many others, here and there in the South, doing much for the uplift of their neighbors. 1'he Beginning of Our Work Among the Negroes. As far back as 1863 these remarkable words were adopt- ed by the General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church : “The foreign mission problem is here reversed. Instead of having to send missionaries to the heathen, the heathen are brought to us, thus affording the opportunity of doing a foreign mission work on a gigantic scale, and under the most favorable auspices, a work altogether unique, and which the church in any other part of the world might well covet. The Lord hath set before us an open door; let us not fail to enter it.” After the war there was no change in the conviction of the fathers of the Church in regard to their duty to their former slaves. Rising above the awful prejudices of the time, and ignoring the cruel losses and disappointments which they had suffered, the following exhortation was sent forth: “The General Assembly solemnly admonishes our minis- ters, churches and people, and do enjoin upon them not in any wise to intermit their labors for the religious instruc- tion of the colored people of our land. While the change Our Doors.” 9 in their legal and domestic relations does not release the Church from its obligations to seek their moral and spirit- ual welfare, their helpless condition and their greater ex- posure to temptation, leading to vice, irreligion and ruin, both temporal and eternal, which result from that change, make the strongest appeal to our Christian sympathies, and demand of us redoubled diligence in supplying them with the saving ordinances of the Gospel.” Such noble words coming from such noble spirits put our present indifference to shame. Wh.at Efforts H.^s the Southern Presbyterlxn Church Org.\nized Through Its Committee? The Southern Presbyterian Church has organized the following lines of effort: 1st. — To educate and train good, sensible preachers at Stillman Institute. 2nd. — To assist in building neat churches. 3rd. — To supervise, encourage, and partially support the pastors of colored Presbyterian churches. 4th.- — To organize Sunday Schools taught by white peo- ple. 5th. — To have a superintendent giving his whole time to pushing forward these various lines of work, having special charge of Stillman Institute. 6th. — To establish parochial and industrial day schools, taught by our colored pastors. To read the above program is to acknowledge at once the present support given to this cause is entirely inadequate. Now let us take up these organized efforts of our Church in turn, and see what we can find out about them. 10 Within Our Doors.” We find that the work of educating and training good, sensible preachers at Stillman Institute heads the list. We will read with interest, then, the story of the begin- ning of the Stillman Institute, as told by Dr. J. G. Snedecor. STILLM.A.N Institute. In 1876 Dr. Charles A. Stillman presented to the General Assembly an overture from the session of the Gainesville, -Alabama, church, urging the establishment of a school for the training of colored ministers. This received the earnest suppo’-t of Dr. B. M. Palmer and others, and the school Dormitory Building Stillman Institute. was located at Tuscaloosa, where Dr. Stillman had, in the mean time, moved as pastor. He was appointed superintendent, and for twenW years managed the Tuscaloosa Institute, as it was called, with consummate tact and patience, and at the same time retain- ing through all those troublous times his popularity as pas- tor of the aristocratic old church of Tuscaloosa. “ Within Our Doors.” 11 During this period the work was under the care of the Assembly’s Committee of Home ^Missions. In 1891 the Assembly created an Executive Committee of Colored Evangelization, and appointed as secretary Rev. A. L. Phillips, pastor of South Highlands church, Birming- ham, .-\la. Dr. Stillman was called to his reward in 1895, and the school has since been called Stillman Institute. His memorial is written in the lives of the good men whom he trained to preach the Gospel to their perishing people. The history of colored evangelization is a continuous story of consecration by the very best men of our Southern Presbyterian Church, and also, sad to recall, of unappre- ciated effort and constant discouragement. He was followed by such men as James W. Kerr, O. C. Rankin, W. H. Richardson, J. J. .\nderson, D. D. Sander- .son, J. G. Praigg, J. R. Howerton, R. B. Mc.\lpine, D. D. Little, and others. In 1898 Dr. L. Phillips, with all his splendid energy and enthusiam, was compelled to resign, because of the in- difference of the Church, and a consequent lack of support. Rev. D. Clay Lilly, then pastor of the Presbyterian church in Tuscaloosa, was elected secretary, and for a while gave much time, while still pastor, towards arousing an interest in the work. He was ably assisted by Rev. O. B. Wilson, then a teacher at the Institute. When ^Ir. \\'ilson was killed by lightning, while talking over the telephone to Dr. Lilly, and the latter was spared, he felt called, as if by God, to give his whole time to the work. He shortly after resigned the pastorate of the church to give himself fully to the secretaryship. In 1903, owing to failing health and great nervous strain from the indiffer- 12 “ WiTHix Olr Doors.” ence and lack of support of the Church, he resigned, and Rev. James G. Snedecor, of Birmingham, was made secre- tary. The Scope or This Institute. This school of the prophets is unique in embracing man- ual labor as a means of self-support. Field Work, Stillman Institute. It might without invidious comparison be called the In- dustrious Theological Seminary. There are fifty acres of rich, level land, and a small carpenter shop for repairs and building. This constitutes our simple industrial outfit. The students pay their board by working in the afternoons, and on weekly holidays. The poorest may here make their own way. To give them this opportunity costs us about $65 per annum apiece. Hence, any one sending $65 to the treasurer enables us to add one more student. The cash fee charged the students is $2 per month for tuition, books, and necessary medical attendance. Our underpaid and overworked teachers lead a strenuous life, for they undertake to watch as well as pray. Thev \\’iTHiN Our Doors.” 13 teach from 8 A. M. to 12:30; then after one hour for din- ner, the students go to work in the garden, shops, etc. The Work is Not Sectarian. -At Stillman all denominations are received on equal terms. The denominational question among the negroes is hardly an open one. For the most part they are either Baptists or Methodists. Recently the writer, while addressing a large gathering in the colored Methodist Episcopal church, spoke of this feature of Stillman, when one of their best preachers rose and said: “Stillman, under God, made me w'hat I am.” -\nother faithful and sensible preacher arose and said: “I, too, owe what little ability I have to preach the Gospel, to Stillman.” At least thirty of the graduates have gone out to preach the gospel under other denominational auspices, and we may heartily thank God that we can make this general contribu- tion to the good of the race. The large majority of the graduates are Presbyterians, and find work in the South. Five graduates have gone to Af- rica: Rev. W. H. Sheppard, D. D., now pastor of a church in Louisville, Ky. ; Rev. H. P. Hawkins, Rev. L. A. De Vampert, Rev. A. L. Edmiston, and Rev. A. A. Rochester. .\ccording to the annual report for the year ending March 31, 1913, there were sixty- five students in varying states of prej)aration, each requiring special coaching as well as in- struction. 14 “ Within Our Doors.” THE WORK AND THE WORKERS. Seventeenth Street, Richmond, Va. We will begin with the Seventeenth Street Alission Sun- day School, of Richmond, Va., which was organized by, and under the direction of, Mr. ISI. M. Grey, a student of Union Seminary. Class in Mission School, Richmond, Va. Dr. Walter Lingle speaks of this school most interestingly in The Missionary Survey for June, 1913. The mission is in the heart of the toughest, most degraded negro quarter of Richmond. There are 140 or 150 scholars, and thirty white teachers present. Ladies are there from the best families. A mem- ber of the Seminary Quartet leads the singing. It is wonderful how eager the children are to learn, un- “ Within Our Doors.” 15 der the splendid leadership of Mr. Grey and his faithful teachers. As one of the results of the faithful teaching, think of six girls who have recited perfectly on two different occasions, each, the entire Child’s Catechism (145 questions), the Lord’s Prayer, the 23d Psalm, the 100th Psalm, the Beati- tudes, the Ten Commandments, the .Apostles’ Creed, and the 53d chapter of Isaiah. Total names on roll to date, 335. This school has also a Girls’ Sewing and Basketry Class and Club; a boys’ club, singing class, and a club for the older boys. Who can estimate the subtle but strong influence that is being e.xerted over tliese young people by this interest in their pleasure? How many of our cities and towns are doing likewise? pR.'tzER Street Mission, .Atlanta. The next scliool we would speak of is the Fraser Street Mission of the Central Presbyterian Church of .Atlanta, Ga. This school was organized fourteen or fifteen years ago by Dr. Theron Rice, and has been taught by white teachers during this period. It was not founded primarily as a Presbyterian church, but simply as an effort put forth by white Christians to help colored people to be more useful as they labored in their own churches. The school has enjoyed a measure of success during all these years, and now has about 250 children enrolled, with an average attendance of about 165. The teaching force is 16 “ WiTHix Our Doors. stronger in numbers and efficiency than ever before, some twenty-five teachers and officers being enrolled. The school meets at 3:30 the year round. On Tuesday afternoon there is a Sewing Class, with not so many attending recently, but with gratifying results. There are three clubs for the boys, ages from si.x to ten, from ten to fourteen, and fourteen to eighteen. A splendid colored man assists in this work, and playing out of doors is encouraged. During the summer a Daily Vacation Bible School is- kept in the building, taught by colored teachers. In 1912 350 children were reached, and the attendance grows steadly. This work is carried on for three hours each day for six weeks, with Bible lessons, singing, and manual labor classes. Several entertainments and picnics were given during the six weeks- “Yet with all this,” says the superintendent, “we asre fust playing with the work. “A settlement house, and play grounds are needed where these boys and girls can meet for their common pleasure.” “There is not a foot of ground in the ward where they can meet save in the Mission house. There are nearly 13,000 colored people in the district.” Similar work is going on under care of Second Church, Memphis, and in Tuscaloosa. report of workers. Mission Work in Morganton, N. C. This very interesting work was begun in March, 1912. One afternoon of the Week of Prayer, being held by the “ WiTHix Our Doors.” 17 women of the Presbyterian Church, the founder of this mis- sion led the meeting, and selected as her topic, “Work Among the Negroes,” and mentioned how readily her washer- woman had agreed to her proposition to start a Woman’s Bible Class in one of the colored sections of the town the next week. Several responded to her request for teachers in other sections. Three classes for women were then started, and several for children. One of the officers of the church also started a class of colored men about the same time, and this was kept up with interest for some time, but partly from ill health and partly from some falling off in interest among the men, the work was dropped with the hope of resumption during the sum- mer months. The work of the women has been kept up, and two or three sewing classes started. The severity of the winter and the lack of a comfortably heated, central gathering place affects the attendance during that season. The teachers of one school succeeded in getting the use of the colored school building in that part of the town, and when they got out of wood the boys took up a collection among themselves and bought a load of wood. The testimony of these workers, as of all the others, is to the readiness to respond to help, the quickness in memoriz- ing catechism, and ease with which attention can be held with a story. Take this picture of a sewing class, and bear in mind that the teacher is herself a busy woman during the day. The time is after supper. “They come up to the back 18 “ Within Our Doors.” porch. I have two lamps on the table, and the girls sit on bo.xes, and they really try hard to learn. Four more are coming, they say, and now we begin to dream of an indus- trial school.” Do you see, in imagination, those flickering lights and those eager dusky faces, and that teacher watching her op- portunity to teach those young hearts? In Ruston, La., in Birmingham, .\la., and in Fulton, Mo., the same work goes on. Many of our churches have not been heard from, and a few that have replied to letters say that they have to report a lack of interest in this great work, but we must believe that there are many who are working quietly and sowing seed that will bear fruit yet. This is the legitimate work of the Southern Church. We who live among them know best how to deal with them. We have seen from the testimony of men most competent to testify that Presbyterianism is adapted to the negro, and if this is so, then let us be up and doing, and may the Spirit so arouse us that we may be able to look the Judge in the face in that Great Day when we must give account of the deeds done in the body! REPORTS FROM THE COLORED PREACHERS AND TEACHERS. From Ferguson and Williams College, Abbeville, S. C. Rev. E. IF. Williams, D. D., President. We are now closing the thirty-second year of the work “ ^^■ITHIX OuK Doors.” 19 at Abbeville, and God has permitted us to build up a great work both in the church and school. Bere.\n Church, New Orle.^xs. This is the only mission conducted for the benefit of the colored people in New Orleans, and is not flourishing, though the pastor. Rev. E. W. Benjamin, reports that there seems to be an awakening. He has been in charge of the work a little over a year. A day school has been organized with an enrollment of 60, and an average attendance of 33. 'I'he Sabbath school has increased, numbering 89. There is also a sewing class conducted for girls. The pastor adds: “We are trying to bring about a new day, so far as Tresby- A T.vpical Mission School Group. terians are concerned, and the work in a city of this size is charged with much responsibility.” Here is a case calling for sympathy and for co-operation by all white Presbyterians. 20 “ Within Our Doors.” Te.\.a.rk.a.n.a.. The report from Rev. M. Plant, of Texarkana, Tex., comes next, and shows the pluck of both pastor and people. Montgomery, In Montgomery, Ala., there is one colored Presbyterian Church. The white churches have helped them, but there is no mission conducted by whites, excepting a Catholic mission. IMilton, X. C. There is a church here with Rev. B. B. Palmer as pastor. The congregation is% small, but the Sunday school is well attended and the scholars interested, and it is operated all the year round. There is a Parochial School, which might be very useful for the colored people, if only the school building begun some years ago could be finished.” North Wilkesboro, N. C. There is work being done at North Wilkesboro by Rev. J. S. Morrow, who also serves a church at Elkin and the Clark ^Memorial at Danbury. Wilmington, N. C. The Presbyterians of Whlmington, N. C., have not been idle, as the following report shows; The First Presbyterian Church has had a mission for colored people for three or four years, at first in a rented building, but since October, 1911, they have had their own church building. “ Within Our Doors.” 21 The two white churches — the First and St. Andrews — have recently undertaken a new arrangement. They have secured Rev. W. ^I. Baker*, a graduate of Union Seminary, Va., and a volunteer for our African Mission, to work among the colored people of the city for one year. There is also a regularly organized Presbyterian Church of colored people. Report of the Work of St. Andrew’s Church, Nashville, Tenn., Rev. S. Jackson, Pastor. This church, organized about fifteen years ago, has an en- rollment of about 180, not all, however, active members. They have a parochial school of eighty or ninety in sev- eral departments. Kindergarten, Story Hour, Sewing School, Boys’ Club and Mothers’ Meetings. Colored Church, Nashville. The Presbyterians (white) give then financial aid, but do not teach in either Sunday or parochial schools. The only whites working among them are the young ladies of 22 “ WixHiM Our Doors.” the 2kIethodist Training School near by, who have entire con- trol of the kindergarten work. I'he church has also had substantial aid from the com- mittees, especially in the purchase of the property and in the building of the handsome church and Sylvan St. Mission School, Selma, Ala., Rev. R. D. Roulhac, pastor, Dillon, S. C., Homer, Ga., all send reports of good work, limited only by lack of funds and workers. Cotton Picking in Dixie. I'he Story oe Sam Dailey. The story of Sam Dailey is worthy of a more perma- nent place than the pages of even a religious paper. His life proves that it ought to be known not only as an inspiration to people of his own color, but, in order to put to shame the comparatively small efforts of self-con- “ WiTHix Our Doors.” secration known to many Christian workers, and another truth it should impress is, — the solemn — ,the tremendous respon- sibility of influence. The Sam Dailey Reformatory. It was the influence of an address by a colored preacher that moved “Uncle Sam” to devote his life to the uplift and salvation of wayward boys. He had been janitor of the University of .\labama, then, later, ran a hack in the city of Tuscaloosa. By economy and good management he had saved several hundred dollars, and decided to buy a farm. He moved out and began life there, but was not able to pay at once all the purchase price for his place. It was just at this time that he heard the address that determined his future. He had nothing to begin with but a piece of land, a heart full of love for wayward boys, and simple, childlike trust in God. The preacher who suggested the idea of a Reformatorj' to him, took him to Birmingham, and introduced him to Judge Feagin of the City Court. The warm heart of this good judge opened with s}'mpathy to the plan, and al- though Dailey had so little to offer, and no experience, he 24 Within Our Doors.” consented to turn over to this new Reformatory as many of the young negroes convicted in his Court as could be pro- vided for. A large log barn on the farm was fitted up with beds for a 14ormitory. Another out-house became the Dining Room, and Dailey’s wife cheerfully assumed the work of cook and matron. The Reformatory became a fact. Tlie first great difficulty was to keep the boys after they reached the farm. Sam knew practically nothing of criminals, while his little prisoners had spent their lives dodging the police. For the first two years about two out of every three es- caped, but Sam learned by experience. His farm was across the river from town, and there was only one bridge, so by secuing the help of his neighbors, both white and col- ored, and especially of the store-keeper at the bridge, he was able to re-capture most of the runaways. M night all of the boys, excepting the “Trusties,” were locked in to stay until the doors were open at sunrise when they had breakfast. After breakfast, if the weather permitted, the super- intendent would lead them to the fields. If it was rainy, they returned to the Dormitory and studied and said les- sons as at school. On Sundays they had the regular Sunday School lesson and a talk on morals by the superintendent, or a sermon by some visiting preacher. Special Prayer Meetings w^ere held twice a week at night. This simple life accomplished the desired result. The Reformatory was establislied to make bad boys good, and the superintendent succeeded beyond his expectations. “ Within Our Doors.” 25 The most remarkable thing about this unique institution ^vas Dailey’s power of getting hold of the hearts of his boys. At first the consuming desire of every newcomer was Parental Guidance. to get away, and the ingenuity they showed in escaping was remarkable, but after they became accustomed to their new surroundings and restraints, they looked on the Re- formatory as home, and enjoyed life in the fields more than the old life on the streets of a city. When you remember that the raw material was made up of the worst street Arabs of a large manufacturing city, the discipline was remarkable. The Reformatory never had any regular income. Kind friends here and there have given small gifts, and for the past three years the .\ssembly’s Home Mission Committee has kept a preacher there as pastor and assistant in the work 26 “ Within Our Doors.” of the school, but the greater part of the money for food and clothing has been earned by the boys themselves. “ Sam Dailey came nearer to realizing the dreams of the idealist as to the self-supporting schools and Reform- atories that any other jjerson of whom the writer has ever heard.” It would be safe to say that of every five dollars spent on his place, four were dug out of the ground by his boys, most of them under fifteen, and none over eighteen. Remember, too, that all of them were originally town toughs, ignorant of country life and of thrift or responsi- bility. In iMay, 1913, he was chosen by the Central Alabama Presbytery to represent them at the General Assembly in Atlanta. V-.- He was taken sick, and a few days after the adjcairnment, though every possible care had been taken, he passed away in a hospital. One little incident will illustrate Dailey’s simple faith. In the summer of 1911, the army worms were making havoc in the cotton fields of Alabama. Farmers were in consterna- tion, and Paris Green was selling by the car load. Dr. Little met Uncle Sam and asked if he had applied the poison to his crop? He said; “No, I didn’t have any money to buy poison, and so I jes’ went to the Lord an’ told Him: ‘Lord, you know how I can’t raise enough cotton to feed my boys an’ the army worms too,’ an’ the Lord has kep’ ’em off my place, so far.” And throughout the season the Lord fulfilled His promise, and made a covenant with the creeping things of the earth. “ Within Our Doors. 27 And now — shall our Church take hold of this Reforatory? Is there any where within our bounds a man white o" colored who can and will give himself and all he possesses to this most worthy cause? Or shall this rema>-kable effort to save the lost pass with the memory of its founder? The Object of Collecting These Reports. We may have read these few reports with interest, but the reading will be of little avail if it does not prove stimula- ting. That others have worked and succeeded should rouse to action, tho.se of us who “have been thinking about it.” We cannot afford to waste time thinking about it. Every instance of missionary effort is a Call. Our op])ortunities for service to our colored neighbors, are not confined to planting Mission Sunday Schools around us. Says Dr. Gambrell : “Never did a people luive as many ojiportunities to serve a weak race as are afforded the Chris- tian women of the South in their kitchens and dining rooms — in their homes.” -\11 the most important lessons they need to learn can be taught them there, by examjile as well as by precept. .\ wise Southern planter said before the Civil war: “What they lack in education they make up in observation.” 'I'liis is true. Their keen eyes and ears mark whether the religion we teach corresponds with the religion we live, and our in- fluence over them is strong or weak accordingly. .\ bright young woman who was remonstrated with about reading the newspapers on Sunday, quickly replied: “Why, Miss Amanda does it.” Coolly casting on Miss .Amanda the responsibility of her Sabbath breaking, — Miss .\manda little dreaming that her influence was working this way! 28 “ Within Our Doors.” Let us look at another picture, true to life. An old saint lay dying. IMuch of her long life had been spent in faith- ful efforts, not only to win her own servants to Christ, but after they were freed, and she was living in another part of the country, and boarding, the servants in the fam- ily soon won her interest and prayerful efforts. .-\.mong these, the cook was a woman of notoriously im- moral character. She was regarded as a hopeless case, and only employed because of her accomplishments as a cook. She was accustomed to nothing but stern cold words. This did not deter the aged friend, who sought an opportunity to speak to her. First winning her by friendly words, she then suggested learning Bible verses and hymns. The astonished cook listened with tearful interest, re- peating the verses until she had memorized them. She returned to the kitchen, saying with a sob: “No-' body else ever cared nothin’ ’bout my soul before.” At last the morning came when the end drew near. Some one told the cook that Mrs. D. was dying, and with a burst of tears she went up to the room, and opening the door, she said : “Oh, le’ me do somethin’ for her. She’s the only one ever cared fur mv soul!” Oh, who can doubt that angels, — and the blessed Master too, — smiled on that deathbed scene! A Few Quotations Be.aring on the Subject, for Use IN Mission.ary Meetings. “The negroes did not come to our country voluntarily. They were not seeking a happier home when they left Africa. Slave raiders snatched them from their native for- ests. “ Within Our Doors.” 29 Our fathers and grandfathers paid honest money for them and detained them here. We the sons and daughters are responsible for that act, and the freeing of the slave does not discharge us. We have made several grievous mistakes in our relation to the negro. Let us not now make the deplorable mistake of thinking that he is incapable of improvement, or that it is best to keep him in ignorance. We could not do the lat- ter if we would. It is only idle to advocate it. The only question for sensible people is: llo-w is the negro to be taught, and by whom?” “The good old ante-bellum negro was the product of the white man’s religion. Our Churches were built with old fashioned galleries from which they heard our ablest preach- ers. These galleries are empty now, — the negro has his own houses of worship where he listens — as a general rule — to crudely put truths — sometimes to absurd untruths, — and seldom hears the simple truths of salvation, and the call to a higher and more spiritual life. It is estimated that there were 35,000 negro memliers of Presbyterian white Churches at the time of the disruption of the Church in 1861. These people were instructed care- fully, and their morals were kept up to a high standard by tlie careful oversight of the sessions. They listened to the same preachers, and communed at the same time with their white bretliren.” A preacher applied for admission to the Stillman In- stitute, giving as his reason, that he desired to do some- thing better for his people than to “jump up and down in his pulpit and to holler.” 30 “ \^■ITHIX Our Doors.” “The Gospel has not lost its power on the negro and he will receive it now just as readily as he ever did, if it be offered him with the same love and sympathy. The trouble is, we do not give it to him. We give money, and send men across the seas to preach the Gospel to the negroes in Africa, but withhold it from these within our own doors. For five years past we have been giving an average of a fraction over a nickle apiece to give the Gospel to these millions whose destiny is closely bound up with that of ourselves and our children.” “.\nother thing that in fairness we should ever bear in mind is that we have been climbing up the stairway of Christian Civilization six times as long as they have. For more than twelve centuries our race has had the knowledge and felt the steady uplift of the religion of Christ. For only two centuries they have had this inestimable blessing.” These colored people about us are separated by only six generations from a savage and cannibal ancestry; nay, many of them by even a less period. “For every dollar the South withholds from this cause, the North puts ten dollars into the work. The question for us to decide is solely whether he is to be educated by those who understand the negro, and the needs of his race, or by other people who, with the very best intentions, at- tempt a task that is beyond them, and whose work, without die co-operation of Southern white men, in many instances, retards rather than advances the best interests of both races. \\’iTHix Our Doors.” 31 ■‘A thousand years it took to tame our forefathers; it has not been fifty years since emancipation.” For additional quotations and readings, Missionary So- cieties are advised to purchase “The Upward Path,” by Mary Helm, and W. D. ^^'eatherford’s two manuals on the negro race. These books can be ordered from our Commit- tee of Publication in paper, 35 cents; in cloth, 50 cents. SoitE Questions on the Work of the S. Presbyterevn Church Among the Negroes. How many Negroes in the United States? How did they come here? Where are most of the Negroes living? When did the S. Presbyterian Church begin her effort for their education, and religious uplift, and where? Who started the movement and where? What ministers have been successively connected with Stillman Institute? Is it denominational? How many ministers have been educated there? How many missionaries to .\frica? How many colored Presbyterian Churches have we? How many ministers? What Schools, and who are the Principles? What has hampered the work of Colored Evangelization from the first? What can the women of the Church do about this? “ \\'iTHiN Our Doors.” How many Mission Sunday Schools among the negroes can )ou mention? Are you teaching a Mission Class? If not, why not? 'I’his waif, destitute and abandoned, wa sbrought into the colored mission in Louisville. “Her Sunday doll,” as she named it, became her dearest possession, used only on the Sabbath, which she had learned in this Mission was “the best day of all.” Stricken with a deadly disease, she went Home clasping the doll, which was never taken from her loving hands, and she bore it into the presence of Him who is still saying, as of old, “Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for to such belonged! the Kingdom of God.” Home Mission Pamphlets A series of interesting and informing pamphlets dealing with the special Home Mission problems of the Southern Presbyte- rian Church. 32 pages illustrated. Price, 5c. each, postpaid. Texas-Mexlcan Missions Mrs. R. D. Campbell. The Country Church Mrs. E. P. Bledsoe. Our Work Among the Negroes. . .Miss S. O’H. Dickson. The Highlanders of the South... Miss Anne H. Rankin. The Frontier Rev. S. M. Glasgow. Concerning the Foreigner Mrs. D. 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