VOL. LEL
CHARLOTTE, N.
A CONFERENCE THAT WAS DIFFERENT
By REV. L. B. WEST, D. D.
The first of three Presbyteri
an Young People’s Regional
Conferences was held at Grove
City College, Grove City, Pa.,
June 20 to 25. These Confer
ences are under the auspices of
the Board of Christian Educa
tion of the Presbyterian Church,
U. S. A. The directing genius
es are the Rev. Frank D. Get
ty, D. D., Director of Young
People’s Work, and the Rev. J.
Maxwell Adams, Director of
University Work.
The purpose of the Confer
ences is set forth as follows:
“To develop a better under
standing of the Christian Reli
gion and how it may be inter
preted through the Young Peo
ple’s Program in the Presbyte
rian Church, and to consider
the relationship of Presbyteri
an Youth to the United Chris
tian Youth Movement and to
the' United Student Christian
Movement.
“To consider the possible de
velopment of a national organ
ization of Presbyterian students
in colleges and universities.
“To consider ways and means
for strengthening and expand
ing organizations for all Pres
byterian young people in Pres
byteries and Synods.
“To develop a larger group of
informed leaders in Presbyte
rial areas and on college and
university campuses.
“To secure the assistance of
representative youth and adults
in further development of
the Presbyterian Program for
Young People.
“To develop better and more
extensive cooperation between
young people and adult lead
* ers.”
The Conferences are open to
delegates who must be at least
- misfctgenryefti&fff
resent Presbyterial areas, or
college and university units.
The attendance at the Grove
City Conference was representa
tive. There were 158 delegates
from 17 States as follows: Ala
bama, Connecticut, Florida,
Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Mich
igan, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsyl
vania, South Carolina, Tennes
see and West Virginia. There
were 16 seminar leaders, ineie
were others who were connect
ed with the Conference in an
official capacity. The Confer
ence was a big success. It sur
passed the fondest dreams of
those who planned it. The del
egates were serious-minded.
They were earnest seekers aft
er truth. How to develop a bet
ter understanding of the Chris
tian religion and interpret it
through the Young Peoples
Program in the Presbyterian
Church and in daily living with
other Christian groups and
those outside the Church, re
ceived the most careful consid
eration from every one present.
The intellectual as well as the
spiritual note was dominant.
There was an atmosphere of
genuine Christian fellowship.
If there were any obstacles or
barriers they were brushed
aside by the impact of a broth
erly love which pervaded the
hearts of the delegates.
King’s weather prevailed
throughout. The well-kept camp
us grounds, the profusion of
shrubbery, the stately trees,
and the attractive and spacious
buildings all blended to lift the
delegates to heights of inspira
tion
The vesper hours will linger
long in the minds and hearts of
the delegates. On the left side
of the chapel there is a beauti
ful enclosed garden. It is an
ideal spot for vespers. The call
to vespers was made each eve
ning by two trumpeters from
the top of the science hall. The
delegates approached this gar
den with reverence in quiet
meditation. They sat on the
grass facing the sun. The sing
ing, the praying, the reading
of the Scriptures, and the re
citing of suitable poems, was all
timed to close just as the sun
was sinking. The effect was
sublime, and the presence of
God was felt.
II
Each morning at 8 o’clock the
delegates assembled in the
chapel to listen to an address
by the Rev. J. Harry Cotton,
Ph.D., pastor of the Broad
Street Presbyterian churcih,
Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Cotton
spoke from the following sub
jects: The Christian Doctrine
of God; The Christian Doctrine
of Revelation; The Christian
Doctrine of Man and The Chris
tian Doctrine of Society. These
addresses were very scholarly
and illuminating.
Following the addresses the
Conference was divided into
eight groups. Two seminars of
90 minutes each were conduct
ed. The first seminar gave the
delegates an opportunity to
“seek a masterful graspLof bas
ic Christian convictions.” The
second seminar was “designed
to work out the most effective
methods by which the Church
as a Christian community can
express the great truths of our
faith, through activities in the
life of individuals and the
world.”
rnese seminars were mgmy
interesting, and proved to be
very helpful. The discussions
were stimulating as well as re
vealing. They blazed a new
trail for Christian youth to ven
ture out in helping to solve the
many world problems which
surround us.
The leaders of the seminars
were as follows: Rev. Ganse
Little, Williamsport, Pa.; Rev.
Monroe Everett, Philadelphia,
Pa.; Rev. C. Marshall Muir,
Pittsburgh, Pa.; Rev. Ray H.
Harmelink, Pittsburgh, Pa.;
Rev. Chas. Eugene Conover, Ox
ford, Ohio; Rev. Cameron Hall,
Madison, Wisconsin; Rev. J.
MaxweU Atoms, Philadelphia,
Pa‘.;Ttev. ft. L. McCrorey, Char
lotte, N. C.; Dr. Charles J.
Turck, Philadelphia, Pa.; Miss
Rowenna Kessler, Columbus,
Ohio; Miss Margaret Shannon,
Athens, Ohio; Miss Esther
Johnson, New York, N. Y.;
Miss lone Sikes, Philadelphia,
Pa.; Rev. S. Franklin Mack,
New York, N. Y.; Rev. Donald
Carruthers, State College, Pa.;
and Rev. L. B. West, Charlotte,
N. C.
There were five colored dele
gates as follows: Mrs. Cecelia
Jamison and Miss Castle Will
iams, Mr. I. P. Pogue, Mr. Chas.
Kearns and Mr. Arthur Cooper.
Mr..Cooper was selected as one
of the six who will visit colleges
to tell of the Conference.
The popular meetings, which
were held in the big and beau
tiful college chapel, were very
informing and inspiring. Mon
day night President Weir C.
Ketler of the college extended
a most gracious welcome to the
Conference. Dr. Getty in a
clear and comprehensive man
ner explained the meaning and
significance of the Conference.
The Rev. Cameron Hall of Mad
ison, Wisconsin, delivered the
main address of the evening
from the subject, “A World
Christian Community.”
Tuesday evening’s address
was delivered by Dr. Chas. J.
Turck, Director of the Develop
ment of Social Education and
Action of the Board of Chris
tian Education of the Presby
terian Church, U. S. A. He
depicted the evils of the day,
and said the Church must study
them and act. He contended
that the Church must educate
as well as worship.
One of the outstanding fea
tures of the Conference was its
music. The Rev. W. F. Miller,
minister of Music of the First
Presbyterian church of War
ren, Ohio, was the music direc
tor. Rev. Miller not only led
the singing at the vespers and
chapel services, but also in the
dining room. Every afternoon
from 5:15 o’clock to 5:45 he
gave an organ recital in the
chapel.
A musical program was
rendered on Wednesday eve
ning. After the program a re
ception was held in the parlor
of the girls’ dormitory. An en
joyable evening, was spent.
On Thursday evening, Miss
Ann Elizabeth Taylor, one of
the Secretaries of Promotion
of the Board of National Mis
sions, made an address and
showed a motion picture on
City Life.
An impressive communion
service was conducted on Fri
day night. There were appro
priate musical selections. The
communion meditation was giv
en by the Rev. J. Maxwell
Adams. The elements were dis
tributed by several of the del
egates selected foi* that purpose.
Rev. Adams served the bread
and Rev. Getty the cup. The
service closed with the Com
mitment Hymn, We Would Be
Building.” _
The afternoons were given
over to recreation, and com
mittee meetings.
At the close ot each day s
work the ■ delegates assembled
in different groups in designat
ed rooms for a season of pray
er and fellowship. This was a
rich experience for the dele
gates as well as the leaders.
Many expressed themselves as
having had their religious life
quickened in this hour of devo
tion. ,
Meals were served in the
dining room of the boys’ dor
mitory. Good cheer and a real
spirit of comradeship prevailed
at each meal. The service was
par excellence. The delegates
were lavish in their praise, and
as a token of their appreciation
presented a bouquet of flowers
to the kitchen and dining room
force. Miss lone Sikes made
the presentation.
The delegates selected Miss
Jane Williams and Mr. Bill
Evans as their leaders. These
leaders ably assisted Dr. Getty
in guiding the Conference.
Others who helped to make
the Conference a success were:
Dr. C. C. McCracken, who saw
to it that the delegates deceived
their mail from their home
folks: MS36 William B. Lukens
kept the office machinery run
ning smoothly. Miss Marjorie
J. Gibson supplied the delegates
with books from the book store.
The Rev. S. Franklin Mack,
of the Board of Foreign Mis
sions, was busy with his cam
era shooting motion pictures of
the Conference.
As the closing hours drew
near, expressions of the short
ness of the duration of the Con
ference were heard on every
hand, and there was an out
burst of enthusiasm for anoth
er such Conference.
IMPRESSIONS OF GANDHI
AND INDIA
By Wm. H. Richardson
Raleigh—There is in Raleigh
a young student who has met
India’s “little old man,” whose
name is known around the
world, and whose father, a mis
sionary in India, is well ac
quainted with Mahatma Ghan
di, who works in sympathetic
cooperation with all who are
trying to bring about better
conditions among the squirming
masses of that hot, steaming
much-divided land.
L. A. Alley, student at the
University of Virginia, who was
born in Maryland and whose
father, the Rev. H. L. Alley, is
a Virginian, held a conference
with Dr. Carl V. Reynolds and
others at the State Board of
Health. He is studying sani
tary engineering and hopes to
be able to return to India and
give the under-privileged rural
people there the benefit of the
knowledge he is gaining here
in America.
“I don’t recall the highest
temperature I have experienced
in India,” he said, “but I do re
call that during one 24-hour
period the minimum was 102,
and this occurred about 5
oclock in the morning. How
ever, it does turn a little cooler
during the rainy season,” he
continued, “and at the place
where I attended school, in the
mountain region, it is impossi
ble to hold sessions in winter,
due to the extremely cold weath
er, so school goes on during
the summer, instead. The
place is a summer resort.
“Well-to-do citizens of In
dia are able to leave the hot,
(Continued oh Page 4)
JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE NEGROES
POET LAUREATE
By DR. KELLY MILLER
The tragic death of James
Weldon Johnson has shocked
the literary world. As a man
of letters he took first rank
among living Negro writers.
[His fame rests chiefly from the
[appraisal of white people who
[bought and read his books and
[accorded him respectable rank
among contemporary writers.
He is the only Negro who has
ever received a definite assign
ment on the faculty of a great
University as exponent and ex
positor of the literary genius
of the Negro race, or enjoyed a
lucrative income from the
fruits of his pen. At the time
of his death he was Professor
of Creative Literature at Fisk
University with the correspond
ing status at the University of
New York. In this capacity he
was frequently called upon to
appear before faculties and stu
dent bodies of leading white
Colleges and Universities of the
South. The University of New
York had just completed ar
rangement by which as an ex
tension professor he was to de
liver creditable lectures on Ne
gro literature at several edu
cational centers.
James Weldon Johnson was
the foremost alumnus of Atlan
ta University. By nature and
temperament he was conserva
tive, cautious, and courteous. I
can recall the time when he
alone of his classmates remained
loyal to faculty regulations
against whose restrictions his
classmates rebelled. In the re
organization of Atlanta Uni
versity, the other alumni trus
tees opposed the merger on the
^ground that it was calculated
ip impair the- old Atlanta .apint
of race equality and 'human
rights. He alone of his fellow
alumni was selected as trustee
of the New Atlanta University
I Dy tne capitalistic interests
which dominated the situation.
Though always preserving his
personal dignity and amor pro
pre, he never gave offense to
the white race. Even while
leading the anti-lynching cam
paign he never called down on
his head the wrath of Southern
whites, like Walter White his
more dynamic successor.
- His National Negro Anthem,
composed for a local Sunday oc
casion in Jacksonville, Florida,
before he had come to metro
politan notice and national at
tention, reveals the true in
wardness of his soul. It is
pitched in the militant key but
in plaintive and wailing tone as
of a race which would sue rath
er than fight for its rights. The
music is fitted to the words by
his collaborater J. Rosamond
Johnson, his brother by tem
perament and genius as well as
blood. The fame of the John
son brothers, James Weldon
and J. Rosamond, will go down
bracketed in history; and al
though James Weldon is exhib
ited as the frontispiece, yet
their fame can no more be dis
severed than that of Gilbert
and Sullivan.
James Weldon Johnson was
by nature a recluse and never
deigned to “mix with crowds
and keep his virtue.”
He was accepted into service
as Field Secretary of the Na
tional Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People.
Although he served in this ca
pacity with intelligence, cour
age, tact, and resourcefulness,
yet one was constantly im
pressed with ther thought that
he was impressed into a field
of service for which he was
not fitted by nature or in
clination. Militancy and agi
tation engaged the energies of
his head rather than of his
heart. Unlike DuBois (of the
earlier days) and Walter White,
he never gave himself with full
abandon and self-detachment
to the struggle for the politi
cal and civil rights of his race.
Indeed the years which he de
voted to the leadership of this
militant organization were but
an interlude, and one might say
a strange interlude between the
earlier and later stages of his
career. We first discover him
as a partner of Cofe and John- ;
son and author of “Rag Music”
then in vogue, typified by “Un
der the Bamboo Tree.” In the
reclining years of his leisure, !
we find him a dignified profes
sor of Creative Literature in
two American Universities,
one black and one white. Thus
both ends of his career con
trast with the middle.
James Weldon Johnson made
a brief incursion into the field
of politics. He first belonged
to the New York “Literary Fel
lows,” the metropolitan coun
terpart of the Boston cabal of
college scions who were oath
bound to offset the industrial
propaganda of Booker T. Wash
ington. William Monroe Trot
ter, George Forbes and William
H. Lewis were the leaders of
this cabal. By shrewd political
finesse the wizard of Tuske
gee sought to wean Johnson and
Lewis from their hostile align
ment by offering them the al
lurements of office. Johnson
was appointed to an important
post in the Consular Service;
he accepted the assignment and
served efficiently until replaced
by a democratic administration.
He then entered the service of
the N. A. A. C. P., which was
anti-Washington in origin, spir
it and objective. However,
under the guiding hand of Joel
E. Spingam, this militant orig
inator did not dramatize its
hostility to the great industrial
leader by violent controversy
and vocal antagonism. It must
be said for James Weldon John
son that he was never Mr.
Washington^ =Mtter or violent
opponent. There was no bitter
ness in his nature. It is this
which made him so readily ac
centahle to the white rare.
James Weldon Johnson was
not a poet per se or par excel
lence like Paul Lawrence Dun
bar. He might fairly be called
a literary dilettante scribbling
prose or verse as the mood or
the occasion required. He wrote
coon songs for ministrel shows,
librettos for light opera, the
Negro National Anthem or
"God’s Trombones,” as the spir
it moved him or opportunity
presented itself. His "Ex-Col
ored Man,” was not his own
autobiography but that of
Douglas Wetmore, his boon
companion, who played the
double racial role both simul
taneously and at different
times. "God’s Trombones,”
usually regarded as his mas
terpiece, was but a translation
in literary form of the picturi
zation of the Hebrew Scripture,
an art which he learned from
his father who was a typical
Baptist of the older evangelisti
cal type. His poetic genius
reaches its highest peak in
"The White Witch Rides To
night',” in which he admonishes
Harlemites of the danger pit
of their besetting sin.
James Weldon Johnson’s rep
utation as a poet and a literary
man is secure in the keeping of
the white race, for he uttered
nothing base or offensive to
their racial sensibility. He was
the Negroes’ ambassador of
letters to the white race, hon
ored and admired.
DAILY VACATION SCHOOL
AT GREER, S. C.
Daily Vacation Bible School
was opened at Calvary Baptist
church, May 30, by our Sun
day school missionary, Rev.
A. A. Thompson. This school
was directed by Mrs. Madora
A. Thompson and it was divid
ed into four groups: Beginners,
Miss Tessie L. Walker; Prima
ry group, Miss Nelsie A. Thomp
son; Juniors, Mrs. Minnie J.
Griffin; Intermediates, Rev.
A. A. Thompson.
Bible stories, prayers, memo
ry Bible verses, and books of
the Bible were learned. “Hand
Work for Vacation Church
School Pupils” was studied. We
are very grateful to Rev. E. L.
VtcAdams of Greenville, S. C.,
for the interesting habitry
stories, and for directing music
iuring our music period. The „
school was divided into the
Eteds and Blues. New outdoor
md indoor games were learned
md played. Much enthusiasm
ivas shown by the teams. Each
rear seems to be better. Our
snrollment was 52.
In this world there is much
to do—much service to render
md a great field in which tb
work. We, the teachers, offer
jur service to the missionary,
realizing the real meaning of
service and the needs of our
community. Although we can
not go to distant fields, we can
make our lives count by giving
from our hearts of our sub
stance to make possible the
spread of the gospel here.
We are looking forward to a
longer term next year.
N. A. THOMPSON.
CHRIST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH, AUGUSTA, GA.
By Miss Magnolia Wilson
Daily Vacation Bible school
for Christ Presbyterian church
was held in the Primary build
ing of ' Haines Institute, for
two weeks, beginning June 13.
Class-room work wa$ begun the
first day with an enrollment of
95, which increased each morn
ing until the total enrollment
reached 153, with an average
of 110 pupils.
Instruction was offered to '
pupils from 6 to 16 years of
age. Many who were under
six came with larger sisters or
brothers, and many who were
too large to take work assisted
the teachers with the smaller
children. Although four large
class rooms were available, sev
eral classes were forced to meet
on the outside. There were
twelve teachers on hand to car
ry but^H^^rogrimi^and c^gses
current events, music, handi
craft and story-telling.
On Thursday of the second
week, a demonstration of the
work was given before parents
and friends, also an exhibit was
held showing the work of the
students in health and Bible
posters, also various small arti
cles made by the beginners and
primary children, while the ad
vanced girls made trinket box
es, pads, bowls, baskets and
many other useful articles of
clothes, pins, wire and paper.
The advanced boys took as
their project this year clay
modeling.
Frjday, June 24, brought the
two weeks’ period, which was
all too short, to a close with a
picnic three miles in the coun
try. A large truck with sev
eral cars took about 100 chil
dren and adults. After a full
day’s romping with food in
abundance, the climbing of
hills and drinking spring water,
everyone declared that Bible
school was a decided success.
MEN ARE INTERESTED IN
KITCHEN CONTEST
(From N. C. Agricultural Exten
sion Service).
Iredell County farm women
are beginning to ask, “Is this
kitchen improvement contest
our project, or our husbands’
project?”
Miss Camille Alexander,
county home demonstration
agent of the State College ex
tension service, reported that
“It’s surprising to see how
much interest the men are
showing in the contest. Some
of them have done more*work
in their wives’ kitchens than
in years before.”
When the contest was start
ed in the Spring, many of the
men appeared to be indifferent,
and some of the women had to
do all the work by themselves.
One woman, not to be daunted,
got out a saw, hammer, some
nails, and a few boards with
which she made herself a kitch
en cabinet, Miss Alexander
stated.
But it’s a different story
now, she continued. As kitch
ens began to show the result of
planning and well directed
work^the men caught the spir
(CwtiMMd m Pag* i)