CHARLOTTE. N. C~ THURSDAY, AUGUST 13,1936. -
VJ VOL. LVII.
.V ’
YOUTH TO THE FRONT AND THI
OPPORTUNITY
By Mrs. M. V. Marion
(The address of the Presdent dent of the McClelland Presby
terial Sunday School. Convention and School of Methods.)
. Fellow Workers, Friends and
Young People of McClelland
Presbyterial Sund&v School
Convention and School of Meth
ods: • '
Father Time has brought us
together after twelve months
of separation and I am wonder
mg if the things we learned
last year have been put to ser
vice °r left to waste. Jeremy
Taylor says: "Make use of
time," if thou valuest eternity.
Yesterday can not be recalled;
tomorrow can not be assured;
today only is thine, which, if
thou procrastinatest, thou los
. est; which loss is lost forever.”
Youth urges |time to (hurry
and bring sooner the longed-for
hour of good times and pleas
ures. I have chosen this theme
for your consideration and
hope it will bespeak my heart’s
desire to have the best Conven
tion and School of Methods.
"Youth to the Front and
Their Opportunity.”
‘Wliat is opportunity? Some
describe opportunity as a
phantom thing that comes rap
ping at the door but once in a
life time. Others speak of op
portunity as something that
follows a man and makes him
healthy and successful and
wise. Such definitions are mis
. leading; they turn youths' minds
away from constructive work.
..Opportunity is the divine re
ward for good thought, good
work and good deeds. Have you
evef' seen a whole tree? The
• roots go deep down in the
ground and spread underground
as wide as the branches do
above the ground. .A tree is an
excellent P&t*ure of which I a”1
attempting to discuss. The
the adults; th© branches repre
sent the youth of today.
The tree represents also me
historic Christian Church. Its
roots g<o deep down into the
• dim, historic past. Jesus Christ
is the ground line. After Christ
there was a period of years in
which there was but a single
church, but finally different
branches began to grow and
each branch developed a church
on every side.- Our task today
is to bear fruit or the tree
which has lived and grown is
• in vain. When a youth starts
as office boy in a railroad office,
works through every phase of
the business, thinks what he is
, doing and then does what be
thinks and finally becomes
.. President, that is not luck, but
a reward for his effort. Oppor
tunity says:
“They do me wrong who say I
'■ come no more,
When once I knock and fail to
find you in.
For every day I stand outside
your door,
And bid you rise to fight and
win.
Wait not for precious chances
passed away;
Weep not for golden ages on
the wane*
Each night I bum the records
of the day—
At sunrise every soul is born
' r again.
Though deep in mire, wring not
_ your hands and weep;
I lend my aid to all who say, ‘I
can’ —
No shame-faced outcast ever
sank so deep,
But he might rise again and be
a man.”
The church today stands
with ,out-stretched )arms, call-*'
ing the youth to the front to do
tasks that may carry him or
her to the hill-top. Use each op
portunity for good.
Years ago the church thought
youths were too young, too friv
olous to do; but Samuel heard
the call and the youths are,
hp-aring and answering the call
today. They only want a
chance. After-they come to tb*>
Convention and the * School of
Methods they want to go back
and work, but I am afraid that
we older ones are putting stum
bling blocks in their way.
youth is not content to sit by
and let the other folks do the
jobs that have to be done. The
ue mans wsil always be a
strong, robust and healthy na
tion because they begin early
to train the youth. Across thi
seas, in other lands, youth is
mobilized and united on the
march.
The modern youth of the
Christian Church is ready to
mobilize and march to the front
and when duty whispers, “Lo
thou must,” they will reply, “I
can.” The piece of youth in the
work of the church is wherever
he or she fits in. Men and .wo
men of the church, we must do
our parts in the church so that
the youth may see how we fi4
in and they will follow.
“Be a man,” was the admoni
tion given by a parent to a sor
years ago, and these three
words carried! an (incentive t'
the lad to be his best. To be «
man was a goal, an ideal, a wor
thy ambition. The same appea
could be made to an adult who
is slipping. A friend could en
courage him with the same
words, “Be a man.” Have th
three words lost their potencj
in modern life? Can we appeal
to the best in youth by holding
before him Hie goal of man
hood? Does modem youth want
to be a man? Is the typical man
of today a worthy example for
yputh? The men must answer
these questions.
Some of os have lowered our
standards, losj: ;>Qur ~ idealism
become cynical alfd hard-heart
ed. We are no longer, living oui
thereourtSfr
to slap a lad on, the back and
ask him, to-be Hk# us; yef in
our hearts we know we ougt
to be living inspiring lives foi
the sake of the younger gener
ation. If these are our prseent
moods, let us snap out of them
Those of the oncoming genera
tion have enough battles to fight
without carrying older men and
women on their shoulders a*
dead weights. Youth needs the
incentive of Christian manhood
to live courageously and up
rightly. Let us be men and wo
men. The younger generation
needs us. The church needs
them. The church wants theii
lives. It wants young men and
women brave enough to stand in
the face of pagan ways of mod
ern life and dare ito follow
Christ.
What are you buying in the
market of life? Are the things
you buy worth while? Are you
purchasing things that the
world can view and pronounce
them free from guile? When
you make a purchase, get the
very best. Select what will
beautify. Remember whenever
you are doing a thing, some one
is watching close by. I want you
to hear what Sweitzer, the
great German philosopher and
musician, heard; for at the end
of his great book, one of the
most scholarly books of recent
Chiristiian .times, he wrote ot>
Christ: “He comes to us as one
unknown, as, of old by the lake
side, He came to those men
who knew hm not. He speaks to
us the same words: Tollow
thou me,” and sets us to the
task which he has to fulfill for
our time. He commands, and to
those who obey Hiin, whether
they be wise or simple, He will
reveal Himself and they shall
learn in their own experience
who He is.”
Sweitzer heard that com
mand and left (Europe, where
fame and fortune were, and
went down to a mission hospi
tal in dark. Africa, to obey.
Maybe Christ will want you tp
stay at home; but to Africa or
America, at home or in the
country, the church wants you
to hear, to heed and to obey the
Voice of Christ. The church
Wants you to give yourself in
school, in business, at home,
at work or at play, to Him. It
wants you to dare to live his
way. It wants a new America,
a Christlike world through you.
The church wants your talents!
It wants you to take the abfli
ties and training you have to
your ministers, your leaders
and offer them for the work of
the church. What a church you
Would have, if you, the youth,
would do enthusiastically mar
of the tasks about the church
that are done listlessly now!
“Father, where shall I work to
day?
And my heart flows warm and
free;
Then he pointed me to a tiny
spot and said,
‘Tend that for me.’
“I answered quickly, ‘Oh, no,
not that little Place for me.’
And the word He spoke,
It was not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
‘Ah, little one, search that
heart of thine,
Art thou working for them c
me?
Nazareth was a little place,
And so was Galilee.”
. Do you catch the meaning of
that thought? It is the little
hings that count in life. Your
talents in the work of the
church are not to be confined
to the four walls of the build
ing. For wherever a church
member goes, there is the
church. You have a talent for
wholesomeness and purity, an
the church wants that talent
exercised in the foul, tainted
social life of this day; you have
a talent for courage and faith
and the church wants that tal
ent for rugged honesty, for fie
ry hatred of social wrong, for
the self-control which forgets
personal rights in the glow of
divine duty, and the churcl
wants that talent used in the
hijgh places and the low today:
you have a talent for ideas and
ideaHs And (the church wants
yOttv*to uae .these talenis
idea-less and an ideal-less work
fc^day. The church wants youth
tpgive its best in worship, and
in service to wayward youths.
The church wants youth to en
list in the budget plan. The
church wants youth to act as a
team in its giving, and, there
fore, we, as leaders, must ar
range the church’s program so
that the youths may have a
share in raising the pledges of
the church and plan the pro
gram in team work.
The great work of the church
today is your work, a young
people's work. But victories for
Christ can be won only as vic
tories on the foot-ball gridiron
are won—by team work. The
church is calling you now \to
Play the game. It is calling now
for a great youth team? Are
you willing to do your part, to
consecrate yourself to the Peer
less Captain, the Head of the
Church? Will you join the
youths of the church in putting
into deeds the words of this
hymn:
“In the glad morning of my
day,
My life to give, my vows to pay
With no reserve and no delay,
With all my heart, I come, I
come.”
CONGRATULATES ATH
' LETES ON OLYMPIC
VICTORIES
. New York, Aug. 7.—Congrat
ulations to Jesse Owens, Johr
Woodruff, Cornelius Johnson,
David Albritton, Ralph Met
calfe, Matthew Robinson and
Fritz Pollard, Jr., were cabled
to Olympic village at Berlin,
Germany, this week, by the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People.
■The N. A. A. C. P. cable also
offered' congratulations |p the
.other athletes who had not
competed up to the time the
message was sent, but who
were expected to win. These
included Archae Williams and
Jas. Luvalle, quarter milers.
Society can not exist without
all of Us sacrificing some per
sonal liberties.
WORKING TO PRESERVE
PEACE
John Dillingham, an assistant
director of the Emergency Peace
Campaign, spoke at the young
people's service, sponsored by
the Zicfr A. M. E. church at
Woodbury, New Jersey, Sun
day, July 26. Among other
things Mr. Dillingham pointed
out that:
“.To argue for world peace in
the midst of intensely increas
ingly strained international re
lations,||s not to ignore the
fact thgt world peace agencies
are obviously weak at this time.
Nor is |$ie urging of Negro
youth tjo give their lives to the
cause of Peace, to forget that
an increasing number of Amer
ican Negroes is bitter, cynical,
and pessimistic. Any one who
thinks'* at all can undersand and
appreciate the bitterness of the
Negro and the weakness of the
world peace forces. There is,
nevertheless, not a single new
argument that we Negroes can
use m opposing the principles
involved in the “Sermon on the
Mount.” They are all oid argu
ments. Zealots who take the
short range view of history
have always used them. The
c/dv junification lor thj use of
violence is the abandonment of
the Principle of love for which
Jesus'lived and died. As George
Lansbury says: “There is no
Christian way to kill a man.”
There are many reasons to be
lieve that pacifism or non-co
operation on the part of the
Ethiopians, for example, cer
tainly! would have made Musso
lini’s entry into Ethiopia more
difficult, both from a military
standpoint and from a diplomat
ic standpoint.”
Mr. Dillingham has spoken
rceenily to the A. M. E. Sum
mer School of Missions which
was held at Bordentown, New
Jersey, the A. M. E. Women's
Mission Study group at Devon,
Pennsylvania, and the A. M. E.
and the Baptist Alliances in
Philadelphia. His fall itinerary
South among all denominations
and groups.
Mrs. Addie W. Dickerson, Mr.
Joseph V. Baker and Dr. W. A.
C. Hughes are the local cplored
Philadelphians who are serving
on the Council of the Emergen
cy Peace Campaign. The Cam
paign’s national headquarters
is at 20 South Twelfth Street,
Philadelphia, Pa. —
SAY NEGROES SHOULD
HAVE FULL EQUALITY
New (York, (August 7.—Col
ored Americans should have
full equality as American citi
zens and be guaranteed all the
rights in the U. S. Constitution,'
writes Hugh Bradley, sports
columnist for the New York
Post in his column for August
6th.
Mr. Bradley, commenting upon
the Victories of 4es»e <Owens,"
sensational athlete at the Olym
pic games in Perlin, declared
that Owens and other Negro
winners were treated “with
gross discourtesy” by Chancel
lor Adolf Hitler; but that many
people and many newspapers
in America who are blaming
Hitler, do not give the colored
boys and the colored people the
rights they ishould have in
their own country. He calls for
a new deal all around.
Bradley reveals that his fam
ily cfme from the South and
fought with the Oonfederv'
army in the Civil War. In his
closing paragraph he says:
“What would do Hie world—
as well as the more vociferous
quacks of the United States—
some good would be an honest
reaffirmation of the constitu
tional guarantee that ail men
are created free and equal
By choice as well as by right,
they (the colored athletes) are
American citizens.
“As one whose ancestors
took considerable licking be
fore signing on the line for
the early ’teen amendments, I
cffcr to advanced thinkers and
peddlers of newspapers the
thought they should be treated
as such abroad as well as at
home,”
By Uncle Billie
I received a letter a few days
ago from our young friend
Mias Virginia Ray, in our Pitts
burgh office, and, among other
things, she said that she heard
“some ,0^, speaking over the
radio'' of Edisto Island Beach."
This tells you that Edisto
Island ig a real placS. You can
speak of it topographically. You
hear detailed description of
places Jof interest. The name
Edisto Island, excites imagina
tion: you see and hear thing:
primitively. > You see descend
srts of some of tin
first African slaves. who were
brought here from British Gui
ana because of their adapt ibili
ty to the rite and indigo form*
These products were the Islanc’
arStocrats’ principal means Mof
exchange for large money in th(
early days uf white heat slav
ery.
The aristocrats of South Car
olina lived in Georgetown,
Berkley, , Charieitott), , Oolletori
and Beaufort counties, anc
espdcialljr in the islands of the
coast of South Carolina. John'*
Island, being the first to be set
tled by English aristocrats, am
being the largest of the coastal
islands, stood out as the blue
aristocrats’ island.
The only religious denomina
tions that existed on any. ol
these islands in those days anc
even now are the Episcopa
and the Presbyterian; that is
white denominations. And all
the Negroes in the days of slavr
e*y were either Epicopaliam
or-Presbyterians. But the first
denomination with a church edi
fice on Edisto Island was Bap
tist! it was built by Mrs. Hep
zibah Townsend in the carlj
18th century. It was a very
small church edifiee-^-about 4C
by 40. It stands today as port
of the colored Baptist church
here; for she gave it Jtrfhe cob
ofer fSptists; here
Civil War. She and several co
lonial white Baptists are buried
in this church yard. With this
exception, Baptist and Method
ist denominations had no place
in any of coastal South Caroli
na. If they did they; soon per
ished and were forgotten. . .
‘ The termination of the Civil
War in favor of the 'Union
caused many strange things to
find places ini unrecorde
American history. Many slave
owners, soon after the Civil
War, told the Negroes to find
another church and “Get anoth
er name;” for all Negroes went
by their masters' surnames;
and if they were sold to Col.
Bob Jones, they went by thej
hame of Jones. So you will find i
many Negroes in Sumter county
through Williamsburg, Berke
ley, Georgetown,, ^(Charleston.
Colleton and Beaufort with sur
names that are generqjly Chris
tian names; fdr an example, you
can meet many Negroes in
these counties with such sur
names as Ben, Tony, July, Sam,
Sugar John, Singletree, and
thousands of other names that
were at first Christian names,
but were turned into surnames
preceded by such Christian
names as Monday, Friday, and
such abbreviated names as one
commonly hears as Jack, Bob,
Dick, Buck, and other familiar
names. One gruff slave master
said to his slaves as they left to
seek shelter and _ bread: . Let
the damn yankee give you names
and churches;” and the Negro
got “names” and “churches
and he is to be commended.
A merchant in Sumter said to
me thirty years ago; ‘“Rever
end. every time we have a bad
crop year, the Negro changes
his name.” This may be .true
and there may not be a thread
of truth in the accusation; but
you shall have to move about
to excell Negroes in naming
their children; and if you do not
believe it,“ask’ some Negro min
tister who has baptized a large
! number of babies in his parish.
People of Distinction
visit Edisto Island as they visit
other places. Sunday, while the
| pastor off Edisto Island Presby
terian church was del.verng a
sermonette to the Sunday
School, just before the services.
Prof. Mason Crum, Ph. D., of
puke University, dropped in.
All were glad to have him; and
he preached for us an edifying
sermon from the Beatitudes.
| More about Edisto Island
ih the next release.
---
TOLEDO, OHIO, LETTER
; By Mrs. Ethel L. Maxwell
Grace Presbyterian church,
Toledo, Ohio, is in the news in
Pus paper about once a year.
Uneventful indeed must be the
history of a church that has
nothing of interest to report
over a twelve-month period.
Our friends, therefore, may be
interested in some items that
a(re recorded here.
For years Grace bore with re
markable patience a furnace
that economized in heat giving
units and majored on consump
tion of fuel. Finally, patience
ceasing to be a virtue, the old
furnace was junked and two
furnaces were purchased.
The coldest weather now
finds the church warm mid com
fortable. Best of all the bills
for these furnaces have been
paid. It must be admitted that
paying the bills kept us some
what warm.
Art glass windows in church
es seem to be the special tar
get for small boys with air
guns and rocks. Basement win
dows are the special prey of au
tomobilists who are “three
sheets in the wind” or who are
jUst learning to drive. Our
church building suffered in both
Ways. Repairs constitute quite
ah item, but we are thankful
;hat we have no broken windows
through which the wintry
^inds can find their way.
Outings, picnics and rx>at
*ides are the vogue this sum
mer. We have had and continue
4$ have our share. The young
famous in Ohio history, under
the auspices of one of our •
clubs, was notable. Eating
toasted weiners and drinking
“Coolade” at the base of Fort
Meigs monument, while the
stars twinkled overhead and
the river nearby sang its way
to the sea, held a measure of
romance for the young people.
All too soon the blare of the au
tomobilfe horni announced finis
to an evening of fun and fel
lowship.
The moonlight boat ride up
the historic Martimjee and jou>t
into the still more historic -
Maumee Bay, despite the down
pour of rain, was outstanding.
Many persons took advantage
of the trip and voted it an en
joyable evening.
The Daily V acation Bible
school closed a fe*/ weeks ago.
An exhibit of the literary and
c.'aft work was largely patron
ized i'j’d favorably spoken of
by the congregation. The Mon
day following the closing, the
teachers and pupils were served
ice cream, donated by the Sun
day school.
During the hottest weather
Ohio has ever experienced the
school continued to function and
is a tribute to the enthusiasm
and loyalty of teachers and pu
pils.
There were no paid teachers,
but they scored high in loyalty *
and efficiency. The usual sub
jects were taught, including
story telling and crafts, 'pie mu
sic hour secured high interest.
Our pastor, the Rev. C. A.
Ward, D. D., will take his vaca
tion during the month of Au
gust. During this period the
Rev. Forrest Mitchell, Baptist
divine, will be in charge of the
pulpit.
Come now, backsliders, tell
me, are you happy? Have you
had one happy hour since you
left 'Christ? Does the world
satisfy you, or those husks
that you have got in the far
'country? I have traveled a good
; deal, but I never found a hap
py backslider in life.—Sel.