FIFTY-EIGHTH YEAR.
ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
NUMBER 24
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1912.
METHODIST ASSEMBLY.
By Gen. J. S. Carr.
mHIS great religious and educational enter
prise of the Great Southern Methodist
Church is being developed by nine commis
sioners scattered throughout Southern
Methodism, chosen by the Laymen's Con
ference of the Southern Methodist Church. Bishop
Atkins is President and Mr. John R. Pepper, of
Memphis, Tenn., is Vice-President.
The Assembly Grounds consist of some 1,500
acres situated two and one-half miles from
Waynesville, and persons who have traveled in
foreign lands enthusiastically declare that the As
sembly Grounds are unequalled anywhere on the
globe for fine mountain scenery and health-giving
atmosphere.
The movement was begun and the lands pur
chased in 1910, and the develpomnent has been
going steadily forward since. The site cost the
rise of $150,000. Already $85,000 has been paid
into the treasury of the company by the 2,500
stockholders and only 40 per cent of the pledges
has been called for.
A large number of choice lots are to be sold to
persons who may be invited to join the summer
colony. Only persons of high moral character,
well vouched for, will be permitted to purchase
a lot, and 2,000 or more shares at $100 a share
will be sold in addition to what have been dis
posed of already. The commissioners have no fears
but that all the shares and lots will find ready
sale to desirable parties. No improvement will
be undertaken unless th commissioners see their
way clear to pay for it without embarrassment.
A beautiful hotel with 116 rooms, with all mod
ern conveniences and appointments, forty-five pri
vate baths besides public baths, steam heated,
electric lighted, elevators, is to be erected at once,
and later on it is expected that three other hotels
will be erected, sites for which have been selected
and reserved.
Already $15,000 have been expended in the con
struction of boulevards, drives, etc. It will be a
veritable paradise for the automobilist. Beau
tiful parks are to be erected through the grounds,
reservations for which have already been provid
ed. The entire acreage was first placed in the
hands of one of the most celebrated landscape ar
tists, and a force of engineers have been for
months engaged in laying off the grounds, and
these plans will be strictly observed and carried
out.
A steel auditorium, umbrella style, seating four
thousand people and costing $12,500, has been
contracted for, and will be erected at once. The
auditorium will be 150 feet in diameter, with a
platform capable of seating 500 persons, the whole
auditorium to be enclosed, or capable of being en
closed, in unfavorable weather with large glass
and wooden shutters .
A beautiful bold mountain stream of limpid wa
ter runs through the grounds, and a dam is be
ing constructed across this beautiful mountain
stream at a cost of $35,000, which will create a
lake extending through the center of the grounds
five miles around, upon which is to be placed mo
tor launches, gondolas, etc.
The dam will constitute a beautiful thorough
fare, while higher up the lake at the narrows a
concrete bridge 950 feet long will give foot pas
sengers additional opportunity for crossing the
lake.
A steam laundry capable of supplying every
need is to be installed at once. An administration
t building, post-office, and such other public build
ings and conveniences will be undertaken so as to
be ready for the opening.
The Assembly Grounds will be opened June 27,
28, and 29, 1913, by the triennial session of the
Laymen's Missionary Convention of the Southern
Methodist Church, with an attendance of not less
than 4,000, representing every Southern State,
several Western and Pacific Coast States and sev
eral foreign countries, to be followed perhaps by
the International Epwbrth League with not less
than 7,500 in attendance from all countries. Dis
tinguished speakers from home and abroad will
most likely address both assemblages.
It is the purpose of the Assembly to have cele
brities, home and foreign, to lecture, preach or
sing as the case may be for the entertainment of
the cottagers, and other high class moral enter
tainment will be constantly furnished during the
season, the one prime object of the Assembly be
ing Christian fellowship and companionship for
persons who prefer spending their vacation and
raising their children away from the ball-room
and the bridge whist clubs. Already some of the
finest families in the Southland have bought lots
and are proceeding to erect cottages and bunga
lows. Lots are on sale from $250 to $750 each, vary
ing in frontage from 40 to CO feet and 100, 110,
and 120 feet deep, payable one-fourth cash, bal
ance one, two, and three years, with interest at 6
per cent on the deferred payments.
The Southern Railway will erect a station im
mediately adjoining the grounds, and transporta
tion, including Pullman accommodations, will be
sold at any station in the United States, where
such accommodations are usually sold.
Rev. James D. Cannon, D.D., of the Virginia
Conference, is the Superintendent and General
Manager in charge of the Assembly affairs. Any
one knowing Dr. Cannon is prepared to believe
that his wise, discreet management spells suc
cess. While neither money nor pains are being spared
to make the Southern Assembly the superior place
of its kind in the United States, no money is be
ing wasted. Persons who are familiar with Chau
tauqua in New York State and Winona Lake, In
diana, the two foremost places of their kind in
the United States, say that the Southern Assembly
plans are far and away superior to either. The
Southern Methodists are to be congratulated that
such an elegant Christian summer home is so
soon to be provided for them, and surely the lay
men behind this movement can feel that they have
accomplished a great work that is not only a bless
ing to the Church, but will stand a lasting monu
ment to the Southern Laymen's Missionary Movement.
S
RAMBLING OBSERVATIONS.
By the Traveling Auditor.
OME time ago the Auditor was in a certain
small town on business over Sunday.
At the Sunday-school hour, as was his
custom, he went to the Methodist Church.
He had reason to expect a treat. He
had friends who knew the young man who was
teacher of the men's Bible class, and they
had told him that he was the most brilliant man
of his day at his alma mater. The lesson that day
was a section in the life of Jesus Christ. Who
would not be eager to hear a brilliant and cul
tured young man of the twentieth century inter
pret the divine young man of all centuries?
I had gone early. I always try to go early. I
like to be on time and I like to see the people
as they gather. The pastor was on time. He had
a smile and a word for each comer. The chil
dren seemed to love him. It was a goodly sight.
Then the superintendent was on time, that is
ahead of time. He also had a word and a smile
for each as he moved about seeing that everything
was well arranged. The organist did not have
much time to spare. She was a mother, but by
rushing things at home, I shrewdly suspect leav
ing some things until after church, she also was
on time. I began to say, "I have found the model
school." The scholars gathered. The Bible class
seats filled. Lawyers, merchants, manufacturers,
clerks, artisans, college boys, such good ground in
which to sow the seed! As they one by one spoke
to me, I forgot that I had been a stranger.
But there was no teacher for our class. The
opening song ended and yet no teacher. The
bright, well conducted, opening exercises ended,
and yet no teacher. The superintendent and the
pastor had a hasty consultation. The superin
tendent went to the door and looked down street,
and yet no teacher. The pastor was about to take
charge when with a rush the teacher arrived. He
was out of breath. Hastily pulling an unused
magazine out of his pocket, he began, "You will
just have to excuse me, but. the fact is that I have
not seen the lesson. 1 have been so busy this week
that I have not had time to study it." Then I re
membered the face. I had seen him with a crowd
in the drug store Saturday afternoon laughing and
gassing for a full half hour. I had also seen him
at the basoball game that afternoon, one of the
most enthusiastic rooters for the home team. The
fact is that he had lied when he said that he had
been so busy during the week that he had not had
time to study that lesson. He had, to my knowl
edge, wasted enough time in the one day in which
he had been under by observation to have made
a good preparation of the lesson.
The Auditor caljs no names. But if any one of
his readers knows the young man, please ask him
to read this article. Of course you will find him
or his twin brother in many small towns in forty
States, but ask them all to read this. The officer
may fill out the warrant John Doe or Richard Roe,
but the guilty one knows it means him.
My heart grew sad for the teacher, and for that
class, for the preacher and for the superintend
ent, for the Church and for the community.
What an opportunity had been lost! Think of the
blessings which would have entered that young
man's life had he been a faithful student and
teacher of the Word! What an uplift would have
come to that class had he taught as he could have
taught! How that superintendent would have
been helped and that school have been built up!
How the pastor's heart would have been cheered
and his work promoted! How the church would
have been prospered and the community blessed!
And best of all, how the Master would have re
joiced to have seen the young man, so like the one
He had loved in other days, understanding Him and
sympathizing with Him, and teaching others to
understand and to sympathize with Him.
The young teacher was not too busy. He could
have made ample preparation. In this case I
found out that he could have done so without the
loss or abridgement of a single pleasure. All he
needed was to be enough interested in the work
to take the trouble to begin early and to use a lit
tle system in his work of preparation. But even
if he had had to cut out that gassing with the
boys or even the afternoon at the game, was it not
worth while? Ought not any man who had a de
cent sense of the situation to have been willing
to make the sacrifice? Moreover carefully read'
and ponder even if the time to have made prep
aration had been gained at the expense of busi
ness, if it had meant a few less dollars in his till,
was it not well worth it? Would the young man
have suffered loss thereby? Or his wife? Or his
children? Or his friends? Or the community?
Or Christ?
O brother, put first things first. If you have
such an opportunity, use it. Make every needed
sacrifice in order to use it. Such sacrifices make
earth happier and heaven sure. And such sacri
fices bring joy to the wounded heart of the Master.
FATHER POISONS HIS SON.
TITl uunuia ay mat maw,) i imui en ait; uuui
Mil with weak bodies because their fathers
I used tobacco.
LLU The young man who struts around with
a cigar in his mouth may live to see his
children creep around with feeble frames.
A. D. BETTS.
Greensboro, N. G.