Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Nov. 2, 1933, edition 1 / Page 1
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VOL. LIV. ‘AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH. AND THE S=S=SS==*==^^====»' ■==sppa=B= CHARLOTTE, N. C* THURSDAY, NOVEMBER ft 1933. NO. 4L A LARGE AUDIENCE ATTENDS FUNERAL SERVICE OF MISS LUCY C: LANEY (Special Cwrespondence) Augusta, Ga., October 28.— Approximately 1,000 people made pilgrimages to the campus of Haines Normal and Industrial Institute to pay their tribute of respect to the memory of the “Mother of the Children of the People,” Miss Lucy Craft. La ney. The final rites took place in the school chapel and the servic es were conducted by Rev. A. C. Griggs, Treasurer and Chaplain of Haines. Dr. J. M. Gaston, Secretary of the Division of Missions for Colored People of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., delivered the eulogy. Tributes were paid by the following: Dr. J. W. Holley, representing the Board of Na tional* Missions of the Presbyte rian Church; Mrs. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, President of Palmer Memorial Institute, Se dalai, N. C. Dean J. P. Whitta ker, representing Atlanta Uni versity, Miss Laney’s Alma Ma ter; Mrs. H. L. McCrorey, form er Associate Principal of Haines; Dean L. R. Harper, Paine Col lege; Principal L. E. White, re presenting the City Public Schools; Dr. WilKam Hallock Johnson, President Lincoln Uni versity, Chester County, Pa.; Rev. P. A. Evans, Walker Insti tute; Hon. W. H. Fleming, the white citizens of Augusta; Mrs. Willie Mae Oliver, officer of the Juvenile Court, the women of, Augusta; Mr. Benjamin F. Hu bert, President of Georgia State College, Savannah; Mr. Frank Hutching, the - Hainee Alumni Aaancifii.inn * TYr T W .Tnspv Stoney Medical Association; Dr. A. B. McCoy, of Atlanta, Ga.; Dr. S. S. Johnson, President local Board of Trustees; Miss Mae Belcher, graduate and former teacher, Phillis Wheat j ley Branch of Y. W. C. A., In dianapolis, Ind.; Mr. Walter Harris, class ’19, Augusta Press; Rev J. W. Whittaker, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.; Mr. J. O. Bryant, '10, of South Caroli - na State College, and Dr. A. S. Clarke, of Gillespie Normal School? at Cordele, Ga., read original poems dedicated to Miss Laney; Prof. N. C, Crosby, of Johnson C Smith University; Miss Helen Sullivan, Lamar Nurses; Dr. Matilda Evans, Co lumbia, S. C.; and Mr. George Townes, Fort VaWey Normal School. Each speaker immortalized Miss Laney for her work of sac rifice, service, character build - ing, and for the ideals for which she’ stood. Three soloe were rendered: Mrs. Annie E. Dan iels, class ’14, sang “Going Home;” Mr. Arthur Lee Simp - kins sang “Mother,” and Mr. Edward Simmons, of Savannah, sang “I Have Done My Work.” The chorus, composed of stu dents and Alumni, sang “The Lord Is My Shepherd” and “Je rusalem the Golden.” The casket, gray metallic, lined with white transparent velvet and beautifully engraved, was the gift of Mrs, Aliena Cody Tooks, of Philadelphia, Pa., who is a graduate of the class of 1919. Many floral tri - butes were given by the schools, colleges, clubs, auxiliaries and friends. The ceremonies were more of a coronation than of a funeral, and in the words of Dr. S. S. Johnson, President of the Board of Trustees: “The clods of the campus rest quietly on her remains. Disturb not her peaceful rest; We loved her weli but Jesus loved her best. Her life was as pure as the fall ing flakes of snow, As unapproachable as a distant star; Cold in the dust the perished heart mhy lie, But the love that warmed it once can never die." Dr. Gaston Delivers Eulogy Dr, J. M. Gaston, Secretary of the Division of Missions for Colored People of the Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., spoke in part as follows: “I want to bring today a tribute from the Presbyterian Cuurch at large. The whole Church appreciated, ’honored and loved Miss Laney. We were glad to give unto her. We were proud of her and in sympathy with this great work she was trying to do. Whenever she was in our General Assembly she was re - ceived with great honor, as she was received wherever she was privileged to go. I remember that during the session of the Assembly in Chicago several 'years ago, and which Miss La ney attended, the great ovation that she received there. As Miss Laney had spoken during the afternoon to the ladies I said to her that she would only be asked to speak for three min utes. When her time came Miss Laney spoke three minutes and sat down. The audience ap plauded so much that I turned to her and said, ‘You wifi, have to speak three more minutes.’ She did. Again the applause was so great I turned to her and said, *Y6u will have to speak again.’ She spoke again for much more than three minutes and after she spoken the third time the. applause, ofthe audience was deafening. “One year when Miss Laney had an anniversary celebration the ladies gave her a ban quet. During the banquet they presented her with a bou quet of roses. The lady who pre sided over that .banquet said to me only the other day that she had just been thinking that the greatest audience and the great est tribute of love she had ever witnessed was on that occasion when the roses were presented to Miss Laney. That great audi ence of twelve or fourteen hun dred people rose to their feet as the roses were presented to Miss Laney. She has often been in Pittsburgh and spoken there, and there are many hearts in West Philadelphia heavy be i cause this great and godly friend has gone home to receive her crown. Michigan has a great many who loved Miss Laney. “Miss Laney had a great touch of humor in her. I remem ber on one occasion during a meeting here the members of the Board wanted to give her a purse as a token of appreciation of her fine work. They gathered the purse and asked me to present it to her. I remember very distinctly how, when I had finished my speech and handed her the purse, she looked at me and said: “Dr. Gaston, they say that money is the cheapest thing you can give a person.” She always had about her that human touch, that quiet humor that made it a joy to talk to her. It was this human touch that made it a delight for all who came in contact with her. She has left her stamp upon all who have been under her care, • “Now, the lesson I want to leave is simply this: So much work, so much devotion, so much sacrifice, so much fidelity, «o much of this life lavished upon the people of God, so much faithfulness to a great cause, the teaching and living of the gospel, so much of that great life lived among the children of God—surely, surely we can not let this toe lost! Her works foHow her. She has received her crown tut she fives yet in the lives oi her Alumni, in all these stu dents. Miss Latney rests fitom her labors and has, gone to re ceive her reward. I like to think of her as looking down up<m us gathered here. What a vast cho - rus must have met Miss Laney. Think of the Alumni that pre ceded her, and the friends of other yeatrs. This great crowd of witnesses is looking down upon and rejoicing with us. She Jives eh in your hearts and lives. She las built a temple. She wiH never die, for there is nothing greater than jbuilding lives. “It has been almost a half cen tury since she began her work, the work so dear to her and t i the minister whom she followed and just as dear to you. For such an one there is no death. “It is not death to die, Tc leave this weary world.” Mrs. McCrorey, Life-Long Friend, Pays Tribute Mrs. Mary Jackson McCrorey, for many years the Associate Principal with Miss Laney of Haines Institute, and now the honored wife of the President of Johnson C. Smith University, speaking of Miss Laney, said: “Perhaps I, more than anyone, else had the privilege of looking into the holy of holies in her heart. It t. is out of that experience I face you today over the body of her whom I loved. SJje did not have a great deal for herself, you know. Others than I know there were times when she did hot have good shoes to wear, and at some, commencement occa sions she did not have the dress which we thought she should wear. Not because she could not, have them, because our Board! paid her every month; but be cause she wanted some one else to have shoep and bread. More and say, ‘Miss Jackson, buy something for her—something that she needs.” She knew I had that money and when times be came very hard, and the need was pressing, she Would send to me to say, ‘Please bet me have that money Mrs. Thaw sent you. I need it. I have bills to pay.’ Perhaps it was not the best bus iness methods all the time to have so many bills to pay, but who is it who would not rather have the great heart that she had than the ability to adminis isr business as some thought it might have been administered. “If boys have been sent to Lincoln and girls put on the road to right it is because she yearned for them a chance in life and would sacrifice for them to have it. I remember when she would sit up all night at a time of freezing weather to see that the furnace fire was going. One day when I missed her at a tragic time, I found her upon her knees and I heard her say, ‘0 God, 0 God, let me go through this!’ And that was the source of her strength. She had faith that God would carry her through. “I come to speak to you for a few minutes out of the fullness of my heart that you may know what went out of her great soul that others might Jiave a chance in life. The, very/beet of everything, she Wanted for her students; they were her chil dren ; they were her life. “And now as we stand over her body, still' and cold in death, may we not ask ourselves this question: What does it all mean r/her devoted life of sacrifice and loving service? The answer comes iback to us to take cour age in this hour of sorrow and dedicate ourselves to the unfin ]ished task that she has left us. |T appeal to you bo pledge that this work for which she gave ,her life shall live. Haines School must live! You and 1 lmust see to it that it does live! .May we go out from these sa 'cred halis with the determina ,tion that Haines will* go on and that there shall be a greater i Haines than she has made it because she would have it so/' ! A TEACHER PAR EXCELLENCE • - _ By Dr. Kelly Miller I I must first introduce the sub ject pf this sketch to a nation wide audience in order to do full justice to her work and worth. Oftentimes, a teacher, like a prophet, is not without honor save in his own country. On the contrary, Lucy E. Moten, long time ^Principal of the Washing ion Normal School was so well known and noted in the District of Columbia that her contribu tion to the cause fo Negro ed - ucation deserves a wider audi encfe Lucy Moten was a pioneer in the field of normal education for Negroes after the pattern of prevailing modes in this field of pedagogy. After completing her. training in a New England Normal School, she began her teaching career in the Washing - ton-Public Schools in 1876. Af ter serving her apprenticeship in the grades she was promoted to the Normal School* where she shortly succeeded to the head sbfjf and where her educational was made. Whatever the?.Washington public schools have been during the past gen eration and whatever they are to be must be attributed largely to jlucy E. Moten. The half thousand teachers who have conducted these schools were, and today largely are, the pro du$t of her handiwork. After fonfshing the high school these normal* pupils were placed in her hancte to be molded after her bwn fashioning. This was the day of personal pedagogy when the teacher makes over the pu pilt in her own image aqd like hess without tho rostrictions and restraint of a mechanized ^hepnWlcschobl pupil« is as much machine made as the output of the factory. The individual teacher impresses scarcely more influence than any part of the machine on the factory made product. Dr. Mo ten would not today take first rank with curricula, schedule time tables, prerequisites and technical content count for more than personal influence and impressive power. She rath er belongs to the Mark Hopkins type where the pupil, the log and the teacher were alk suffi cient. She took over the crude products of the humble homes and by the injspratSon of her jersonal touch imparted to them a culture, refinement, and disci pline which enabled them to stand up and stand out as exem - plars, not only to the children brought immediately under their charge, but to the whole com munity as well. Her constituen cy consisted mainly of girls who most stood in need of the refill ing influence which she impart - ed. She taught them how to dress, how to decorate their persons, how to conduct a con versation, and how to deport themselves in society. She re lied upon the spirit that maketh alive rather than the letter which too often killeth. The race very much needs today a pri vate finishing school conducted in the spirit of Lucy Moten, where our best womanhood might acquire the gifts, graces, 'and charm and manners of re > fined womanhood, with a lesser .amount, if necessary, of chem istry, physics and political 'economy. I While Principal of the Nor |mal' School Lucy Moten studied (medicine at Howard University Medical School, not with the in dention of practicing medicine, ,but in order that she might the more thoroughly understand the psychology of sex and the more efficiently direct the girls placed under her care and keep - ing along the way they should go. After serving the schools for more than forty years, she with drew, due in part to certain un - pleasantness which is inevitable in the readjustment of the old and the new order. She was re tired with a comfortable pen sion which enabled her to spend the rest of her declining years in dignity and leisure. Dr. Moten was an exponent of self-culture through reading, travel* and contact with the best cultural sources which the hu man race has developed. To this end she spent her vacations mostly in European travel where she came in contact with the libraries, museums, art galleries and elite personalities of the old world. She thus ! adorned herself in order that she might bestow herself upon her pupils and her wide circle of friends and acquaintances ytfth whom she came in contact. Dr. Moten died a few months ago. Her departing soul* could well look back upon her endur ing monument built in the achievements, hopes and aspira tion of her several thousands of pupils and be satisfied. The Washington colored schools might well build her a memo rial i for allowing due credit to the rest who have contributed so much to their upbuilding, it is no disparagement to say that she wrought more excellently than any other. In her death she signified and sealed the chief work to which she bent her aims in life-the widespread dissemination of re finement and culture. She made Howard University her sole legatee of her life’s savings, to be used to enable graduates of the University tc extend their cultural opportuni travel agd A.5Pn^®tv\wtl the older civilizations of foreigi lands. In her life and in her death Dr. Lucy Moten has left to th< educational and general life o1 the race ^ “A heritage, it seems to me, That’s well worth while to hole in fee.” CATAWBA SYNODICAL SOCIETY By Mrs. Hallie Q. Mayberry The Woman's Synodical Soci ety for National and Foreign Missions in the Synod of Cataw ba met in the Johnson C. Smith University church, October 11 12, ms. Th* exercises began with the meeting »*f the Fxecutive C>n> mittee at S.30 o eViek and tile regular program of the Synooi cal opened at If* o’clock A. M Our President, Mrs. R. E. Mc Nair, called the Synodal to or der and presided during aH the sessions. The meeting was pro nounced a success from the standpoint of attendance and of the work accomplished. A fine spirit prevailed throughout the meeting. A large representa tion of women was present at all* the sessions and much interest and enthusiasm were manifest ed. Each year the meetings are growing more interesting. The program was full, instructive and inspiring from start to fin ish. The general theme of the meeting was “Christ for All of Life.” The opening hymn, “Work for the Night Is Coming,” was sung with mighty volume by all present. Mrs, E. E. McNair then ted in prayer, invoking the di vine presence and blessing. Greetings Greetings from the local soci eties of the city were given by Mrs. A. H. Prince. Greetings from the Universi ty church Missionary Society were given by Mrs. H.C. Du gas; in the absence of the Pres - ident, Mrs. H. Li McCrorey. The generosity expressed in their inspiring addresses will* ever be remembered by those present. The spirit of warm welcome was evident everywhere and homes other than Presbyterian were thrown open in the spirit of real fellowship. Mrs. J. P. Johnson responded to these very gracious address - es of welcome with fitting words cf appreciation. Registration Registration cards were passed and 49 delegates were regis tered and introduced to the Synodical. All of the four Pres - byteries were represented. Reports “Interpreting pis Will Through Our Service.” The service of the Recording Secretary was given by the Sec - retary, Mrs. Halide Q. Mayber - ry. The Service of Letters Was sent by the Corresponding Sec retary, Mrs. M. L. Kendrick, and read by Mrs. J. H. Gamble. The Service of the Steward was given by the Stewardship Secretary, Mrs. J. P. Johnson. The Service of Prayer and Reading was presented by the Secretary, Mrs. M. 0. McFadden. Mrs. McFadden had a wonder ful “Literature Table” and she made it serve. The Service of our Hands wa* reported by the Secretary for National Missions and Oversea Sewing, Mrs, W. A. Hawkins. The Service of Missionary Ed ucation was presented by the Secretary, Mrs. L. M. Onque. These Secretaries also had their reports in poster forms with charts on the Walls which were valuable assets in helping the women to see more clearly the importance of these phas , es of work in each local soci , ciety. The two large charts giv ing statistics and money, and the third giving aW the appor tionments for the four Presby terials, attracted attention and the women said they did a valu - [ ajble service. The reports from aw the Sec, retaries were received and the recommendations adopted with words of praise and commenda tton. After each report was made a few minutes were given for general discussion. The re ports were indeed interesting, full of information and instruc tion, and showed much hard work on the part of the Secre taries during the year. The Service of Financing was sent by Mrs. H, L. McCrorej* and read by the Secretary. Mrs. McCrorey gave a full account of the financial standing of the Synodical. Mrs. McCrorey has served very efficiently and loy ally in this capacity. In her let, ter to the Synodical she ex pressed her exceeding regret at having to be away at the time of the meeting* but she was called to attend a very important meeting in New York and be fore leaving she spared no pains to do all she could to make our stay comfortable. Introduction of Visitors Our President recognized in the audience two of the former teachers of Scotia, Miss Mary Chapman and Miss Cathcart. i Their long years of service at Scotia has endeared them to I hundreds of our women in Ca tawba Synodical and all* over the [country. Their presence at the meeting was a joy and inspira itlon to all. Timely remarks were made by them in whicl* they told of their interest in our 1 mission work and paid glowing I tributes to the work being ac ‘ complished at Barber Scotia (College. j We were delighted to have (Mrs. J. M. Gaston with us. Her [presence is always an inspira tion and we look forward to her [coming each year. She spoke en couragingly of our work and said she felt welcome because [she felt like she was coming home. j Mrs. ^Theodora P. Cozart wag next presented to us and she {■ * ■ (Continued on page 2)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Nov. 2, 1933, edition 1
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