Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Nov. 22, 1928, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
THE WEST AFRICAN MISSION CONFERENCE i By Her. J. W. Holley, D. D. 1 • . (Dr Holley and Hon. Charles W. Williams are the Negro mem bers of the delegation appointed to represent the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. at the Missionary Conference that wjas held at Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, Africa, beginning Au gust 16th. Dr. Holley has fa vored this paper with sevefal letters covering his experiences and observations preparatory to leaving* this country and after his embarkation, and we shall give our readers one of the let ters weekly until all have been published. We are sure these letters will be of absorbing in terest to all who are interested in mission work in Africa andi in the future of that continent!— * Editor). Letter II ANTWERP TO BOMA. j My dear Friends: I shall take you with me on my trip from Antwerp to Boma. We left Antwerp at 11 A. M., Tues day, Aug. 28, on the S. S. Eljiz abethville. The Elizabethville is a much smaller ship than ijhe Lapland, which carried us across the North Atlantic, but it Was well appointed. Here we met a large number of European and American delegates and missiOn v aries to the Congo. There were about 70 in number. Among some of the prominent delegates were Dr. Henri Anet, of Belgium; Dr. Chesterman. of England; Dr. Donahugh, of New York, Secretary of the North-, era Methodist Church; Dr. Bon sjk$c, of Illinois, Secretary !;of ^SitrChorch (rftfer BrethrenrDr. Goddard, of California, Secreta ry of the Southern Methodist Church, and Mr. James Sibley, 'x Educational Advisor to the President of Liberia. It was not long after the ship left harbor before the delegates had found a fellowship of a high order. Arrangements were made for lectures every after noon on questions affecting Af rican problems. Group meet ings for a study of special prob lems were algo .arranged. These not only helped to breiak the monotony but afforded a source of real information for those in search of truth affecting modern missionary problems. The first break in our voyage was at Itinerife, Mon. Sept. 3rd. Here we went on land for a few hours while our ship was wait ing. Itinerife is a little town on the Canary Islands which are Spanish possessions. The Islands have some of the highest moun tains in the Atlantic Ocean, and some are covered with snow all the year round. The town of Itinerife is inhabited by Span ish with a generous sprinkling of Portuguese and East Indians. It' was very interesting to vis ifthe trading house and note the fierceness of competition, and how, like the Hebrews, they never allow a man to get away without making a purchase. They readily spot the American traveler and, unfortunately, they have the idea that the Ameri cans have wealth. When you complain of the exorbitant price asked for their goods the reply comes to you, “Americana man, heap a much money.” These people have no set price, they simply aim to get all they can. A purchase was made by my wife. The man originally asked 300 francs but the article was finally sold for 50 francs. Perhaps the most memorable place in Itinerife was the native market where all sorts of tropi cal fruits and vegetables are on sale by the peasant women. Often have I read of the mar kets of the old world, but now I was actually face to face with one. The eagerness, the greed on the faces of the women bar tering for francs must have been comparable to the greed of Shylock, the: Jew, when barter ing for blood. These women were so eager to sell, and com petition was so keen that often we noted them ready to strike each other if one had the ad vantage in selling power over tjhe other. This riotous, colorful place, seething with humanity and the luscious fruits of the soil shall not soon be forgotten. The grapes and tigs of this coun try are far superior to the best American figs and grapes. The ship having weighed an chor at 3;00 P. M., we started South. All our thoughts from now on centered on crossing the equator. Fellowship among the passen gers, and especially the mission ary group, waxed stronger and stronger as our journey contin ued. In this group were mis sionaries from Virginia, Tennes see, Georgia and Texas, as well as from the North, East ^nd West. Who can say that the barriers of race shall not be broken down? We hope that lasting, friendships will result from the helpful contacts made on board the ship. Tuesday, September 11th, is a day I shall not soon forget', for on that day did we not cross the equator? For once in our lives we were neither East, West, North nor South, in no latitude and no longitude. How many times in geography I had located the equatorial' line but that country below the line seemed to be a country not of the earth. IJowever,.,on .the morning of the above mentioned date we found ourselves going down, down, down under the equator to the sunny shores of Africa, to the land of our fath ers. A great deal of ceremony was had on deck. We were all given a baptism, as the French term it, to make us realize the importance of the occasion. The women were given a face bath with ice and their faces were hideously painted,, but the men were the recipients of a salt water bath by means of a fire hose; yes, fun was rampant. At one degree, point 25 below the equator we passed the Island of Annabon. This is a small Island inhabited by the descend ants of shipwrecked slaves. Ihere are now some 2,000 natives on the island. Looking through our field glasses we saw the rugged cross carved on the mountain and the flag of the mission station floating in the breeze. How joyful we felt when we realized that the light of promise had not been denied these starved, shipwrecked souls. Wednesday morning we left the Atlantic and entered the mighty Congo River. This great river of Africa is the second largest river in the world, being surpassed only by the Mississip pi. Like the Nile the Congo flows North. The West end was discovered in 1848 by the Portu guese, and in 1876 Henry M. Stanley traced it' as far South as Leopoldville. Here the river forms a bay which he thought was the Atlantic Ocean. Our first landing, though for days, we had seen mountain^ rising to our left, was on the morning of September 13th, at Boma. Our next letter will tell you of our experiences on native soil. Our trip has now begun in the most meaningful sense. It is absolutely impossible to deal with alcohol on any other basis than complete prohibition of the traffic. Our government deals with the problem in the only logical and consistent man ner.—Dr. J. M. Doran. DR. G. T. DILLARD RETIRES FROM MIN ISTRY AFTER 48 YEARS OF SERVICE H i ■, I began preaching in 1880 ‘ in Laurens, S. C. Dr. P. W. Ciflp, who has gone to his reward, se cured my consent to take this field before I left Howard Ukii to make the best' of things un der and with the mastership I of Him whose we are and whom we serve. One of the very best assets in my career as a minister was good physical health. I have never been sickly although I have Had many chances to lose my health from sleeping in t»ad houses and in beds where pier sons with catchifig diseases had slept the night before, but Qod preserved me. I never took a drink of liquor in my life. I have preached and lived a clean life and I am proud of it. I have retired from the ministry after preaching forty-eight and a half years, and during those years my character was never soiled by fracturing the 7th command ment. No, never. To Jesus be all the praise. Another thing which has helped in my ministry was read ing, reading, application, appli cation. Reading makes a full man. Some preachers die be fore the time because they do not play the student. They don’t read enough. I have preached thousands of sermons and lectured all over the country and in every one of them I put learning, observa tion, pathos and sacred wit which I got from reading and in vestigation. If you know your subject fully suitable words will come to your rescue to put it over and people will want to hear you. One of the high spots in my ministry was becoming all thito all men that I might the better help to save them. I have slept in shacks called hous es which were not fit for any human being to live in and eaten food which was not fit for any human being to eat. A woman cooked a dinner for me once. She loaded up her pipe and began smoking. I saw the ashes fall into the greens and corn meal she was preparing for my din ner. She sent a boy out to hunt buttermilk for me. He came in with the milk. The first thing I saw was the milk on his lips that was intended for me. She put the dinner on the table and to® me to come to dinner. I saw tee stuff from the pipe fall in the food and that the boy’s dirty rflbuth had been drinking my njujk. What was I to do? I ate ngjpre corn bread and greens and aranK moreTBtittfeflfiifk' that day than I could tell when. I preached in that place that’ night and that woman and family and others got ' a crowd out to service. There is a good church in that town that grew out of these con ditions, etc. Had I not eaten that food that church would not have been planted by me. Be come all things to all men that we may save some. Twenty-eight years of my ministry was gi^en *to Sunday School work by appointment’ of our Board of Publication in Dr. Worden’s time. As District Su oerintendent of Sunday School Work in the four Negro Synods I saw and did more work than ever, and also rendered assist ance to the missionaries through out the Synods. I have many thousands of colored and white friends North and South whose kind words and earnest prayers have made it possible for me to have done my bit to help the kingdom come. May God bless and save them is my fervent prayer. Unto my Heavenly Father who called me into the ministry and sustained me from falling when my faith was weak and the way seemed dark, be all the praise and glory forever. Amen. G. T. DILLARD. JOHN HALL CHURCH, CAR THAGE. John Hall still shines. As .us ual on the fourth Sunday we had a very enthusiastic congre gation. The amount raised in the church service was $25; in Sunday school, $50, and in the Christian Endeavor, $1.00. During the month of October we had one of the greatest re vivals witnessed in a decade. Many were converted and re claimed. “In the midst of life we are in death.” Our hearts were sad dened last week to hear death had come into the home of Mr. and Mrs. James Franklin Blue and claimed their little daughter, “Tillie,” as she was often called. The funeral service was conduct ed byRev. L. Z. Siler. i I RALLYING FOR FUNDS FOR MEW CHURCH AT NOTTOWAY, VA. - ■ . . During the last week of Sep tember Bethesda church was host to a series of decidedly suc cessful services rendered by some of the neighboring church es and their pastors. The collection taken went to swell the New Church Fund. These collections were highly creditable considering the scarc ity of money. The services were of a high order; and a success, spiritually, numerically, co-operatively, and financially. An interesting and helpful feature of these services was the allotment of time to re marks by members of the vari ous churches contributing to the program. - These remarks were timely and they seemingly ex pressed the very, soul of. the speakers. They were most beau-, tiful expressions of the attitude of the churches toward the occa sion. Contributing to this program were the following churches: Cellar Creek, Mt. Nebo, Poplar Mount, Ugjon, Victoria First, Bethel, Shiloh, Eleven Oaks, Christ’s, Macedonia, Hickory Grove, First Nottoway, Mt. Zion, Calvary and Prospect. < The messengers were Rev. W. H. Hurt, Rev. J. B. Rather, Rev. A. H. Wynn, Rev. G. W. Overby, Rev. J. W. Megginson, A. B., B. D., and Rev. L. W. Bass. The messages delivered were eloquent and profoundly in spiring. Following these master ly discourses ope could picture the hearers saying as did Isaiah, ‘‘Here am I, send me.” The in ability of Rev. W. H. Neal to be disappointment. HbweWj^fiS? people were on hand and they left no stone unturned, save to preach the sermon. Reinarks were made by the following persons: Messrs. Geo.( Foster, Robert Foster, Sam Ford, W. H. Wynn, Wm.. Fitz gerald, Luther Fowlkes, Jr.; Dr. Bagley, Lemmie Downs, Ernest Fowlkes, Joshua Bowman, Lacy Coleman, George Knight, Peter Stewart, L. C. Jennings, W. S. Epps, Scott Epps, Frank Knight, Benjamin Fowlkes, Squire Green, Mac Ward, P. P. King, Chas. Williams, Joe Green, Richard Birdsong, Mesdames Robert Foster, Adeline Fields, Celia Fitzgerald, Nannie Elam, Lemmie Downs, Rosa Fowlkes, Ralph Anderson, Ben Stokes, Josh Bowman, Patrick Hurt, N. P. Johnson, Anna Foster, Ernest Fowlkes, Scott Epps, Hannah Leneave, Esther Gill, Indiana Moore, Sadie Coleman, Victoria Knight, P. P. King and S. R. Giddings. Some splendid addresses were delivered by the following per sons : Messrs. Wm. Keyton, Wm. Evans, P. T. Scott, N. P. John son, Dr. W. B. Taylor, Rev. W. B. Stitt, Mrs. W. B. Stitt and Mrs. Josephine Scott. Messrs. Robert Foster, George Foster, Wm. Morgan, Luther Fowlkes, Wm. Evans, Lemmie Downs, Joshua Bowman, J. H. Hutchinson,^ Freeman Jennings, Lacy Coleman, Wm. Miller* Wm. Pitts, Patrick Hurt, N. P. John son, Harrison Coleman,. Frank Knight, Mrs. Nannie Elam and Mrs. Eva Godsey played well their parts in lifting the eollec tions. The following ladies acted' as secretaries for the various ser vices: Mesdames Robert Foster, Scott Stith, Ben Stokes, Jas. Foster, A. Foster, Ruth Vaughan, Miss Evelyn Wilson and Miss Daisy Irby. The music was fine. First Nottoway, Union, Victoria and Eleven Oaks churches brought their choirs. Shiloh and Black stone presented a splendid quar tet of young men whose melodies held the rapt attention of the audience. Christ's-and Macedo nia churches came forward With a most excellent program^ of singing, readings, and splendid papers, much to the satisfaction of all. • - Mrs. Georgia Lomax and Mr. McPherson Hatton, who . acted so well their, parts as ushers, seemed much pleased with the assistance rendered them by Mr. Joe Green and two young ladies of the usher board of Victoria church and Miss Alma Epps, of Mt. Zion church. •— Following is the grouped col lection during the week: Pros pect, $17.02; Mt. Nebo, Poplar Mount and Bethel, $25.10; First Nottoway, $16.73; Shiloh; $14. 35; Cellar Creek, Union and Vic toria, $23.26; Macedonia' and Christ's, $14.35; Mt. ; Zion, $26,04 j 'Ladies’ Missionary pir des, , $17.00; Eleven t Oaks, $28.25. Those contributing one dollar or more : Messrs, Robert Foster, $1.00; R. T. Scott, $1.00: Hodg es Dickerson, $200; Timothy Urinkwater, $3.00;\Vm, Reyton, $LQQ; Wm. Morgan, $1.00; Lu ther Fowlkes, $1.00; Doctor Bag ley, $1.00 ; Robert Wilson, $1.00; Wm. Fitzgerald, $1.00; Lemmie Downs, $1.00; Wm. Evans, $1.00; George Knight, $1.00; Childress Morgan, $1; Lewellyn Vaughan, $6.00; John Hutchinson, $1,00; Lacy Coleman, $1.00; Daniel Gash, $1.00; Peter Stewart, $1; Freeman Jennings, $1.00; Geo. M. Jones, $1.00; Patrick Hurt, $1.00; W. P. Johnson, $1;00; Scott Epps, $1.00; Wm. Dicker son, $1.00; Alex Lomax, $6.00; Joseph Lomax, $5.00; E. T. Thomas, C. Jennings, $1.00; E. B. Harris, $21.00; Chas. Williams, $1.00; Harrison Coleman, $1.00; Frank Knight, $1.00; P. P. King, $1.00; Richard Birdsong, $1.00; McC. Ward, $1.00; C. S. Jackson, $1; Ralph Jackson, $1.00; Rey. W. B. Stitt, $6.00; Rev. J. W, Meg ginson, $1.00; Dr. W. B, Taylor, $1.00; Mesdames Missouri Fowlkes, $1.00; S. J. Fitzgerald, $1.00; Pearl Hutchinson, $1.00; Lulu A. Harris, $5.00; Annie Coleman, $1.00; Bessie Gash, $1.00; Alice Drinkwater, <$1.00; Susie Cooke, $1.00; Ruth Vaughan, $2.00; Mary Dicker son, $1.00; Annie Hudson, $1.00; Fannie Davis, $1.00; Rosa C. Stitt, $10.50; Josephine Scott, $1.00; Eva Godsey, $1.00; An nie Lomax, $1.00; Lucy J. King, $1.00; Sadie Coleman, $1.00; Bertha Williams, $1.00; Victoria Knight, $1.00; Emma Morgan, $5.00; Georgia Lomax, $3.00; Miss Edna Davis, $1.00; Poplar M5unt Circle, $1.00; Union Cir cle, $1.00. From previous dona tions: Dr. H. E. Barco, $1.00; Mrs. A. A. Hector, $1.00; Mrs. Lucy Fitzgerald, $2.00; Total collection, $191.00. E. B. HARRIS. SMITH MEN PROMINENT IN SCHOOL WORK AT NOR FOLK. Mr. Matthew T. Green, class of ’25, Johnson C. Smith Uni versity, was on November 9th installed Principal of the Junior Department of the Booker T. Washington High School, at Norfolk, Va., succeeding Prof. E. P. Southall, who has accepted a position in the schools of Washington, D. C. Mr. Green’s unsolicted selection is a flatter ing tribute to his merit, per sonal and professional. Johnson C. Smith University has two re presentatives in the B. T. Wash ington High School, Mr. Roger B. Dungee, class ’26, being the other. The minute you begin to be lieve yourself strong, you are— ^stronger, _
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Nov. 22, 1928, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75