Majors and Minors.
THE TAINT OF THE BICTCLE.
t BY W. F. FONVIELLE.
PAPER NO 2.
A northern manufacturing con
cern constructed one hundred safe
ty bicycles and put them on the
market at a selling price of $100
apiece. The rich folks gobbled
them up at that price and incident
ly remarked: “How cheap!”
The bicycle makers are smilingly
satisfied and on the best kind of
terms with themselves and every
body else; and straightway at
tempted to put a thousand of the
same kind before the public. But
the public was getting mad, and
turned in and purchased them be
fore the workmen could turn them
out. Rich people bought most of
these; yet, some who were not
listed as wealthy bought a few of
them~atJB100 apiece. Other peo
ple went into the manufacture of
“bikes,” “wheels” and “safties;”
while the factories t°ile(l night
and day to supply the demand.
Then came names, trade marks
and lamps; bells, pumps, whis
tles and confusion; but the price
remained the same—$100. Some
had the Maiden Lane jewelers to
stud their their handle bars with
costly gems; and then an unusual
thing happened. Every hamlet,
* town, city, state, the country, yea,
the supposed civilized world be
came more insane as the days
went by, and went a riding on a
bicycle.
-*****
The municipalities taxed the
bicycle, made rules and enacted
laws to keep it within bounds.
The railroads denominated it
freight and charged the owner,
though a passenger, for transport
ing it from place to place. Ilut
the bicycle cared naugjit for this.
Gone aloft he took the sidewalks
in the town and drove inoffensive
pedestrians into the roadway and
out An the gutter. He fright
ened domestic animals and maimed
children for life. In the right
time he rang his bell after he had
ridden over you; and gathering
yourself from the wTreck as best
you could, in your humbility and
humility begging him to forgive
you for being on the sidewalk at
„ night, he again mounted with the
agility of a cat, the ease of a
trained acrobat and with the swag
ger of a bully and a gesture that
could not be mistaken, gave the
humble unfortunate to understand
just what would happen if he
again found him on the sidewalk
when he came a riding by.
* * * * *
And then—sad regret—woman
went a “coasting” and a “scorch
ing.” For a time she rede upon
the bicycle of her brethren, when
they would let her: on her son’s
“bike” if she were larger and
stronger than he; on her lover’s
4‘safety” if he loved her better
than she loved him; and finally on
her husband’s “wheel” if he were
a henpecked husband. But she
rode; and what is worse, she rode
just as the men ride. But some
good folks still exist. Some who
persistently and stubbornly refuse
to fall down and worship two
wheels, a handle bar and a chain.
So these good people protested,
using the words, shame, awful,
indecent, et cetera. Public senti
ment was so strong that all got
down, save the more brazen among
them, till the manufactoring folks
could make her one; which they
proceeded to do without loss of
time. So the bicycle called into
existence that modern monstrosi
ty, the New Woman. The new
woman goes out of her home at
unseasonable hours of the day and
night. She .refuses to be a wife
and a mother in the home; feed
ing her husband on baker’s bread
and canned goods. She makes up
her bed at night and sweeps and
dusts when she gets ready. She
neglects her children and dresses
like a man. What with stiff hat
and laundried shirt, high collar
and four-in-hand tie. She wears
low cut vests and cuttaway coats.
Dressed in this garb, plus a sub
stitution for pantaloons, she rode
and pretended to be happy in her
new Toleimitations of man. Per
haps she was happy.
* * * * *
Then the establishment made
smaller wheels, and the children
went a riding. Those children
who had not yet grown their first
crop of teeth—the milks, incisora
—and four melons, were put upon
the front of their parent’s wheels;
but the others were put upon
their own wheels. It was here
that the bicycle began to get in its
best work. Some lost arms—the
children—others escaped with a
brpken leg. Some had their
crowns broken and became idotic
and the works in their neophytic
skulls have not yet intelligently
transmitted a message to their un
derstanding as to how and when
it all happened. A great number
are laid up for life. Done in plas
ter of Paris, splints and artificial
limbs, they are making it the best
they can; but happily not a cy
cling. To others the last sad rites
have been performed. “A slaugh
ter of the innocent. ” Young men
who had before been the souls cf
honor, the admiration of the com
munities in which they lived and
the pride of their parents, and
young women who all their lives
had been as pure as the dews and
as chaste as the frosts sent from
heaven, though poor, obtained bi
cycles by unknown but questiona
ble methods. I do not know how
they got them, neither d^ you;
but you know they ride them as
well as I.
Washington, N. C.
Zion at Indianapolis, Ind., is
moving grandly. At the recent
quarterly meeting rounds Walters
chapel, Rev. R. P. Ghristian, pas
tor, raised $81; Penike chapel,
Norwood, Ind., Rev. D. J. Dono
hoo, paster, raised $30. Presiding
Elder W. F. Jobes is proving
quite a successful Presiding Elder
and the work is booming under
his administration. Rev. G. W.
Register has purchased a lot and
laid the foundation for a brick
church at Galesburg, 111. Elders
Carr and Payne are doing well on
the St. Louis and Chicago dis
tricts.
Rev. W. Sides, Fayetteville, is
in the city. His many friends hail
him with much gladness. He was
the builder of the great Price
Memorial Temple.—Cotton Boll.
Rev. N. B. Stella has improved
the looks of his church in the
town by changing the door of the
church to the center instead of to
one side as heretofore. Rev. Stella
has aroused the Zionites on this
circuit as never before.—Scotla/nd
Times.
Searchlight Scenes.
ILLNESS OF BISHOP HOOD—DEATH
OF ROBERT THOMPSON—OTHER
MENTIONS.
BY DR. J. HARVEY ANDERSON.
A deep sense of alarm pervades
the Church and community when
Bishop J, W. Hood is announced
to be ill. His recognized place in
race, religious and denominational
leadership makes him not only a
conspicuous figure of the long past
and the present, but to his Church
he is considered, and justly so, an
imperative necessity.
It is universally felt that we can
ill afford even to 'have Bishop
Hood seriously ill. While we occa
sionally. differ with him in opinion
on some important questions, and
have the easy manliness, indepen
dence and courage not to conceal
it from him under no circumstan
ces; yet there is not a man living
in whose wisdom, judgment, sin
cerity and prudence we confide
more; nor any for whom we enter
tain higher respect and greater
appreciation. We love him for
his great worth as a man, sincere
Christian, high Church official,
enviable record in .private and
public life, and a contributor to
the benefaction and elevation of
his race. The Church largely leans
upon him, and his removal from
them would be most seriously felt,
more perhaps at thisdime.
To importune a beneficient prov
idence for his prolong life and ac
tivity is not only a pleasant duty,
but is the expression of the deep
solicitude in which his illness is
always regarded.
* * *
The death of Robert Thompson,
Sr., .of Carlisle, Pa., father-in
law of Editor J. W. Smith, re
moves from that community a
prominent citizen of massive in
fluence and wealth. He was the
beloved father of Mrs. Rev. J. W.
Smith, and our much cherished
personal friend. No business man
of the dominant race in the city of
Carlisle exerted a stronger or
more wholesome influence in tfie
community; none were more high
ly respected; none contributed
more to the conservation and devel
opment of the public good. Dr.
Geo. W. Reed, white, President
of Dickinson College, and personal
friend of the late Dr. J. C. Price,
remarked at the funeral: “The
death of Mr. Robert Thompson is
a calamity to the city of Carlisle.
He has done as much as any man
living to build up Carlisle;” and
then he proceeded to eulogize Mr.
Taompson in his personal and bus
iness character and influence in
the community.
Mr. Thompson began to seek
God in the remission of sin under
our four years’ pastorate in Car
lisle, and ^ras converted under the
four years’ pastorate of Dr. J. W.
Smith, his esteemed son-in-law,
who succeeded us. Mr. Thomp
son died in the sublime triumphs
of the Christian faith after a brief
but severe illness of five days. He
was a strong official in the A. M.
E. Zion church of which the
prominent Rev-. W. J. Holland, A.
B. has been for four years the effi
cient and greatly respected pastor.
For twelve years we have enjoyed
the confidential and intimate
friendship of Mr. Thompson and
his genial but now heavily stricken
family, sharing with them the
hospitality of their bright home—
a veritable minister’s rest.
Though through misfortune,
Mr. Thompson, in earlier life, lost
heavily, yet through his natural
business talent, integrity, patience
and perseverance unaided by edu
cation, he not only recovered a lost
fortune, but died, leaving a wealth
of one hundred thousand dollars,
($100,000) to be divided with his
invalid widow and six surviving
children, Robert Thompson, Jr.,
and Dr. J. W. Smith being the ex
ecutors of the estate. The Car
lisle Daily Herald said he was
wealthier than a majority of his
white brethren of that city. His
son George is a graduate of Liv
ingstone College; and Ida, his
daughter, is the amiable, faithful
and devoted wife of the eminent
Dr. J. W. Smith, a prospective
Bishop in the A. M. E. Zion
Church. May the faith and hope
of the bereft family pierce the
gloom that has gathered over
them, and through their blinding
tears look to the hills from whence
their help must come. -“7—
Such was the popular esteem in
which Mr. Thompson was held
among the white citizens that the
City Council through the interces
sion of his two sons and Dr. J. W.
Smith granted hisjwish of being
buried upon his own estate, which
is prominent in the city limits, un
til the colored citizens secure a
better cemetery. The permission
to bury him outside of the ceme
tery is a distinction accorded to no
other citizen of the race.
* * *
We congratulate Rev. S. L Cor
rothers, of Elmita, New York,
upon securing through "patient
study the degree of A. B. from
an Indiana College. *Rev. Cor
rothers is a strong candidate for
the Church Extension Secretary
ship. An abler, better qualified,
and more diligent pastor is not to
be found in Zion Church. .1 speak
whereof I know. The ministerial
success of this eminent clergyman
is simply marvelous; his life is
blameless; his loyalty genuine and
eminently deserving.
* * *
Some of the delegates to the
General Conference are limited in
means, and therefore may not ap
pear as tidy, well dressed as some
others; but let us all “look our
best,” since from this standpoint
the Conference will be largely
judged by an observing public.
Binghamton, N. Y.
Succeeding Nicely.
BY REV. P. C. HILTON.
The Jonahville circuit is alive.
We are succeeding nicely.on it.
We have a good Sunday school at
Jonahville church and are also ar
ranging to build Huntersville mis
sion. The prospect is bright. Wo
also have a fine Sabbath school at
this church. Sister Jane Alexan
der, the superintendent, I believe
according to chance, is the best in
the W. N. C. Conference. With
only 15 scholars we raise from 35
cents to $1 each Sabbath. Some of
the best people in town belongs to
our church. Brother J. Alexan
der is a fine church worker. We
have a plan on foot to raise money
to beautify Hbpewell church. Mr.
Editor, I believe if more was said
about missionary through the
paper a great work would.be done,
and more money would be raised
on all lines.
IluwterwilU, M. C.
The General Conference is less
than 6 weeks off. Are your ready?
Rev. R. Seymour.
HIS STATEMENT ANSWERED.
BY BISHOP GEO. W. CLINTON, D, D.
Mr. Editor: In the last issue of
the Star Rev. R. Seymour claims
that my letter giving an explana
tion of how Railroad chapel was
lost to Zion contained an unfair
statement of the case so far as it
relates to him. 11 wish to state in
reply that the only “unfair”
statement in that letter was its
failure to present Rev. Seymour
in the true light as an unfaithful
pastor and untrue to the denom
ination which had honored him
with one of its best appointments
for three or four years without re
ceiving anything like commensu
rate value for the trust confided
in him.
I charged Rev. Seymour with
mope than the letter contained in
the presence of a congregation at
Chicago in hi£ presence and he did
not deny the correctness of the
charges. I have in my possession
written verbal statements from
reputable gentlemen, one of whom
was directly concerned in the
trade for the church, as proof that
Rev. Seymour betrayed Zion and
used his influence to,have the prop
erty pass into the hands of the de
nomination from which, he came
when he united with Zion.
Rev. Seymcfur makes a, false
statement when he says he sent
me the contract giving Zion the
option. Besides* .wheu he secured
the option he told Mr. Swift that
the Conference held at Memphis,
Tenn.,, Would pass* upon the agree
ments and if accepted by that ~
Conference it would be alright.
I have dealt mildly with Rev.
Seymour because I feared that if
I should 'show how he deceived
me and describe his course since
he has been in Zion he might
think 1 regrette^ his withdrawal
from our Church. If I thought
anybody in Zion *doubted my
statement of the matter, and be
lieve Rev. Seymour was worth
the space, I would go into the full
details of my dealings with him
from the time I first met him up
to the period o|£ his withdrawal
from Zion.
rtev. Seymour secured tne op
tion as Zion’s representative, but
when the Bishop of the district re- ■
minded Rev. Seymour that he had
transcended his bounds in taking
in hand the. work assigned to the
committee appointed by the Board
of Bishops, he became- disgruntled
and refused to write another line
to the bishop of the district, al
though the Bishop wrote him
twice. He telegraphed me to
come to Chicago and bring money
very soon after he got there ‘ and
settled down, and that was all the
message I received directly from
Rev. Seymour save one letter.
When Rev. Seymour wetii^to ~
Chicago he went there witfi'the^
explicit understanding that he
would remain only till the Califor
nia Conference convened. \ How
ever, when he secured the, option
on Railroad chapel, he determined
to remain and go into the chapel
if bought by Zion. He also de
termined that if he did not go in
as pastor of Railroad chapel, Zion
should not secure it. He, more
than%ny other man living, is re
sponsible for Zion’s ^lilure to se
cure Railroad chapel.; With this
1 leave him in the hjmds of a just
God. 1 »
Charlotte^ N. C. j v 4 ^